Hanso's Journal: Rewritten
by Reese S. Quill
Summary: Hanso Laron forges dangerous friendships, discovers secrets of the Thieves' Guild, and grows up to be the oh-so-charming thief that saves Neopia. From age seven onwards. Rewrite of HJ.
1. The Month of Sleeping, Age 7

_A/N: Yes, I'm rewriting HJ. Like Ame, I really think I could have done a whole lot better—but mind you, when I say rewritten, I __**mean **__rewritten. Erase any of the facts from the original HJ; not many of them stay here. Even the rules from my profile might be abolished. Anyway, I hope you think I've improved._

_The way Hanso tells time here is different. With hindsight, it was kind of odd for Brynn and Hanso to write in exactly the same style, so I am now changing it. Hanso still writes month-by-month, but only when something interests him. I'm using that Hanso is trained to be a thief and knows how to pay attention to things as an excuse for him remembering a lot of details and dialogue. Plus, he's Brightvalean._

_I'm not sure when I can update. My honest answer is 'when I can', but to give you a clearer view, maybe every two weeks on Friday, okay?_

_Disclaimer: Written (again!) with the permission of Amethyst3232. All her OCs are hers, and all my OCs are mine, but all of 'em crop up in both at some points. Hanso has yet to steal the rights of TNT for me, so Neopets is not mine, either._

* * *

The Month of Sleeping

_Entry 1: Journal _

If you're wondering why a thief even needs a journal, your guess is as good as mine.

But my mom insisted and, well, even full-fledged thieves like me gotta listen their mothers. She says she doesn't want me to grow up ignorant, like some of the members of the Thieves' Guild. I think I know who she meant. Scar-faced guys, with yellow teeth and very pointy claws? Yeah, I'd rather not be like them either. That doesn't mean I didn't put up a fight.

"But _Mom,_" I whined, doing my best pouty face. I'm seven, so it still mostly works; unluckily for me, she wasn't paying attention. Her head was bent, studying the novel on her lap. "What's the _point_? If you want to let me practice letters and stuff, I can always read more books or whatever. I like that." Dad always said I took after her in being a bookworm.

"You can read all you want, sweetheart." She turned a page. "But you're still doing the journal."

"_Why_?"

"Recording your experiences on paper can help you remember the lessons you've learned, and benefit from them." Mom likes using long words sometimes. Even to kids.

"I can't remember half the stuff that happens during the day," I grumbled. She snorted. A good thief remembers everything important, and I was raised by two of the best. I quickly changed tactics. "'Sides, I'm gonna get all the spelling and grammar wrong."

"You're Brightvalean, Hanso. You're a natural."

She looked up me for the first time, a small smile on her face. Mom's a Xweetok, with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. She's really pretty when she smiles like that. "Besides, I thought you'd rather do this than copy something out for me. I'm not making you write every day."

"You're not?" I thought that was what journals were for.

"Nope. You can write whenever something interesting happens. Think you can do that for me?"

I thought about that for a moment. Up till now, my life has been pretty boring, though I was sure hoping that would change. "Okay."

All in all, it's not such a bad deal. I can write whatever I want, whenever I want. Better than real school, at least. I've heard they even give out homework. _Homework. _Who _does _that anymore?

_Entry 2: The Thieves' Guild_

You can sign up for the Thieves' Guild when your seven years old. It was the end of the Month of Celebrating by the time Mom finally agreed to let me join. Since I'm officially starting tomorrow, I think this might be important. Might as well write it down.

I'd been complaining about it for two whole months since my birthday, and Mom had been looking tenser and tenser. Finally, at dinner time she snapped at me to shut up. I'd blinked at her in shock. Mom rarely ever lost her cool like that, and I stopped talking at once. Dad told me to go to my room, which, like all the rooms in our little house, is practically the size of a closet. I obeyed him. But he didn't say I couldn't leave the door open just a smidge to eavesdrop.

"Lizzy," I heard him say. I imagined him wrapping his arms around Mom's shoulders and giving her a _look. _Dad – who, like me, is an Ixi – had mastered the art of making a grown-up pouty face that gets Mom to agree to practically anything. But I had a feeling _this _argument was going to be a bit harder to win than the most. "You know, he does have a point. He's eligible to get into the Thieves' Guild now."

"He's too young," she said stubbornly.

"I was younger than him when I joined."

"Are we actually sentencing him to a life of crime?"

A sigh. "Lizzy, we're both thieves. He knows that. The guards know that. The townspeople's kids know that. It's not like we could tarnish his reputation even further, and besides, that seems to be what he wants."

"He's _seven_, Peter! He thinks stealing is exciting! What if, along the line, he wants to do something else but he _can't _because he's never learned how and everyone in the kingdom wants to arrest him?"

"You're right. We should apprentice him to a librarian." I stared at the doorknob in horror.

Mom's reluctant chuckle comforted me some. "I don't think he'd like that very much."

"Right again, Lizzy. Do you know why?"

"He's too adventurous." There's a half-affectionate, half-frustrated tone in her voice. The former got me hoping. "I suppose your argument is that whether or not we were thieves, he'd never settle for a sit-down job anyway." She groaned. "But I still think seven years old is rather young to decide his entire future."

"He'll never stay still in a normal school, Lizzy. And think of how his classmates would treat a boy whose parents might rob their families."

On and on they went. At one point I was starting to nod off, but I quickly snapped back to my senses. I couldn't take a nap when my future was at stake! If worst came to worst, I was planning to pretend to cry. Not sure if that would've worked, though. My parents can usually see right through me.

Finally, I heard someone kick the table. Mom. "You don't have to remind me, Peter. I know some people can be _prejudiced._" She almost spits out the last word.

"I know, I know. I'm just saying, he'd never fit in."

"I don't want him to be raised without options. He needs to at least learn some regular subjects."

"You could always home-school him a bit. You've been doing that practically since he was born."

"I have, haven't I?" She was coming around; I knew it.

"And Hanso's resourceful," Dad said cheerfully. I could tell he was _charming _her, and I was glad I had my door closed. "If, in the future, he really wants to do something else, he's not going to let anything stop him." Mom sighs again, a defeated one this time, and I know I'm finally going to join the Thieves' Guild.

"I should probably blame you for this," I heard Mom say.

"Excuse me?" Dad asked, amused. "What did I do?"

"He inherited too much of _your _'adventurous spirit'."

A laugh. "And yours."

_Entry 3: First Day_

The first day of training is pretty interesting, I guess, and Mom probably expects me to write about it.

Joining the Thieves' Guild is kinda difficult if you're an outsider. I mean, they can't just let _anyone _in. Petty criminals who don't know what they're doing at all are kicked out before they can even _try _to nick a neopoint. You have to be really, really good.

It's a different thing for the children of the members of the Thieves' Guild or recruits. We're in if we want to be, and we get some training besides. I wasn't sure how that worked until today—all I knew was that the adult recruits were separated from the kids. I can understand that. Must be pretty embarrassing to study with children who're less than half their age.

The moment I finally walked through the door of the Thieves' Guild was scary.

Half the men – most of them the scar-faced ones I was talking about before – looked up when I entered, eyeing me suspiciously. I was glad Mom insisted I hold her hand, though I didn't tell her that. She led me a huge maze of corridors, and I made sure to keep track of the path. She stopped at the entrance of a small room. "Well," she said, in a strangely choked voice, "this is it."

"Yep." I looked down.

"I suppose you don't want to be seen with me?"

"Well, it would be kind of embarrassing."

"Don't sugar-coat it, honey."

We both smirked. She gave me a kiss on the forehead, reminded me that she'd come to pick me up and _under no circumstances was I to go to the Guild Hall alone, _and then left. I walked in.

The first thing I noticed about my teacher – a Kyrii called Master Voleur – was that he was so _young. _Like, just-out-of-your-teens young. Then I noticed he had long red hair that waved loose around his shoulders. Then I noticed his earring. His _earring. _That was so cool. I wanted to ask him immediately where he got it, but I figured that Mom would probably lose it if I got my ears pierced, so I held my tongue.

Besides me, there were four other kids in the room. The first one that got my attention was the Bruce. There's no real way you can look like a thief, besides being scruffy and poor – in fact, the less you look like the thief the better – but this guy just didn't seem criminal material. He was small and slightly chubby, with huge round spectacles over his eyes. His expression seemed as if he smelled something bad. Maybe he thought there was going to be homework.

The next two were obviously Wocky twins, even if one was a girl and one was a guy. They both had brown hair and eyes the colour of dark chocolate. They even had matching leather jackets—though while the boy wore another shade of brown, the girl's seemed like pure cream. I wondered how in Neopia was she going to keep it clean. Despite their close resemblance, I kinda got different vibes from them. The guy had his back straight and looked intimidating. The girl sort of squeezed next to her brother, as if she was sticking with him for comfort. She looked almost scared.

But she smiled back when I gave her a grin.

The fourth, I didn't even notice until I literally bumped into her. She blended so well in the background, with her being a black Acara wearing black clothes. Just like a shadow. "Ow!" she snapped when I tripped on her. "Watch it!"

"Sorry," I said sheepishly.

She looked at me up and down, her steely grey eyes intimidating. I gulped. A frown appeared on her face, and she quickly turned back to the teacher. Something told me she didn't like what she saw.

"Right!" the teacher finally said. "Class. Um, welcome to the Thieves' Guild. I'm Master Voleur, and I'm you trainer."

"We already know that," the Bruce said dryly.

Master Voleur looked crushed. I glared at the Bruce, but he paid no mind. At least our trainer recovered fast. "Like you've probably guessed, I'm kinda new to the whole teaching business. Not that this _is _a teaching thing. We don't even have a classroom. Like you probably already know." He spared a glance at the Bruce, but moved on. "Most of the time, you'll spend your days going around the streets and observing the thieves and guards already there. Pick up tips. See what works. When you feel ready enough, go ahead and try it out for yourself."

"What will _you _do?" the Bruce asked rudely.

He held up his hands. "I'm more of your guide than your teacher, really. I'm here if you want to ask some questions. Once and a while, we _will _have to gather 'round so I can teach you some basic skills, but that's about it."

"Are we going to the marketplace today?" The Bruce questioned.

Master Voleur frowned. "No."

"Then what are we going to do?"

"Um." He looked around helplessly, cornered. It was clear he didn't think this through.

"Maybe you should show us around, sir," a voice said. The Wocky girl. I grinned at her again, and she offered up another hesitant smile. "I mean, most of us have already looked around already"- not me, Mom was hell-bent in keeping me away from the Guild for as long as possible -"but it'd be nice to get an official tour, right?"

"Of course!" Master Voleur jumped at the chance. "Right. Our headquarters for this Thieves' Guild is in a system of caves, as I'm sure you're aware of." Another glance at the Bruce. "Because of this, we have a lot more room than we need; but we've managed to use the space that we have wisely. Come on." We followed him out.

He began identifying rooms, pointing at one hall as a place where people who can't afford a home stay, and one room being a simulation for escape training. He even pointed out a small arena – impressive – so we could practice fighting, which all thieves were required to learn. He skimmed through a tiny store, a meeting place, and a medical room. I noticed the Bruce's eyes lingered on the last one a little.

Once, we skipped a doorway entirely. Thinking he forgot it, I asked, "What's in there?"

Our trainer frowned. He looked at the room as if it held a sad memory. "It's the Death Room."

"The what now?" My parents never said anything about _killing _people!

"A memorial room," the Acara girl, the one who I bumped into earlier, elaborated. "That's just a nickname."

"Memorial? What's the memorial for?"

She blinked. "A long time ago, the Guild was split into two factions—one that supported Galem Darkhand, and one that supported Kanrik. At one point, there was a four-way struggle between the Bringer of the Night – long story – the Boris, and the two sides of the Thieves' Guild. A lot of people died. The Guild Leader, Kanrik, had their names written up there as a kind of monument." She arched an eyebrow at me questioningly, but didn't say anything. Didn't matter. From the slightly weary looks of everyone else in the room, it was obvious that they've already heard this story.

I blame Mom.

"That's not all, though," she said, after a pause. "They also wrote names of the people there that got killed by guards."

"Wait, what?"

"It doesn't happen anymore," Master Voleur said, hurrying us away from the room. "Guards mostly limit themselves to locking us up now."

"Doesn't stop them from being cruel," the Acara girl muttered.

"Not all of them," I felt the need to pipe up. She snorted, and I frown. "It's true."

"What, and you were all buddy-buddy with one?"

"Well…she's really more my parents' friend than mine. She _is _a grown-up." Summer Vines, her name was; a yellow Zafara with bright green eyes. I remember I used to love playing with her. Everyone was gaping at me now, but once I started, I thought I might as well continue. "She used to come over sometimes, and my parents would let her watch me when they were busy," I explained.

She really was nice. Don't know what happened to her lately, though—a few years back, she simply stopped coming on visits. I remember once asking Dad why. He'd stiffened and said she was somewhere else, I guess on an overseas trip or something. She's probably back by now, but maybe she's busy.

The Acara girl stared at me for one minute. Then she rolled her eyes. "I don't believe you."

"What? But-"

"Guards are fanatic zealots who use the law so that they could bully people of the kingdom," she told me. "They want to hurt people and not get arrested for it. Worse than some of the thugs in our Guild, _I _think; at least they're not hypocrites."

"Hey, wait a second. Not all of them are like that."

"Oh, and I suppose your imaginary friend is different?"

"She's not imaginary! She's real." Even to me, that sounded weak.

"Or you're just an attention-seeking brat," she stated calmly.

I saw red. I wanted to punch her – at the moment, I didn't really care about the rule of not hitting girls – but Master Voleur grabbed my shoulder. I began struggling. "Stop," he ordered. His voice sounded so firm and commanding that I froze. He eyed the two of us warily. "Are you actually going to fight on whether guards are evil or not?" That was one way of putting it. Made us sound really stupid. Naturally, we didn't answer.

"Miss Halvard, Mr Laron is correct," Master Voleur said after a while. "Not all guards are evil. Some are like that, yes, but so are many thieves. Don't judge them." Again neither of us answered. He glared at us. "I've half a mind to call your parents."

My mouth felt dry. Mom would _kill _me if she knew, and Dad would be disappointed. Even the Acara's eyes widened twice their size.

"Sir, I don't think you need to do that," said the Wocky girl nervously. "It's just the first day. And they didn't really _do _anything, right?"

Master Voleur's eyes narrowed. "Just this once," he said, "I let this go." Probably because the Wocky helped him out earlier. I owe her one.

The Acara girl glowered at me for the rest of the meeting.

When it was finally over, Master Voleur instructed us to come back there tomorrow so he could explain a few more things to us. Apparently, he made lesson plans during our tour. He chatted to us a little longer, and said that he was glad to be our trainer. He was blatantly lying. I looked back from the doorway once and saw him slumped against the wall, looking utterly relieved that his first teaching session was finished.

Just as I was exiting the room, I saw the twins going off on their own. I caught up to them. "Hey!"

They both froze. "Hey," the girl said to me back. She smiled first this time.

"Um. Hi. I'm Hanso Laron. Thanks for sticking up to me," I told her. I didn't really know what to say to her brother. "I would've been dead for sure if you didn't, so, yeah." I didn't have that much experience talking to other kids. Again, it was because of my over-protective Mom. Thinking that a simple thank-you wasn't enough, I dug into my pocket, finding two lollipops. I offered it to them. "Want it?"

Maybe I shouldn't have done that.

Their eyes immediately darted to the candy, staring at them like they were some kind of treasure. I was about to hold them out when the twins both backed away. "We mustn't. We mustn't. We mustn't," the girl chanted, her back pressed against the wall and taking deep breaths.

I blinked. "Uh…"

"Put it away!" her brother barked. It was the first time I heard him speak. I hastily stuffed it back in my pocket, and they both visibly relaxed. "Trust us," he said. "You do _not _want us to eat candy."

"Sorry." I had no idea why sweets upset them so much – maybe some kind of allergy? – but I didn't want to upset them. The girl did help me, after all.

She laughed a little. "Not your fault, I guess." She twirled a strand of her hair that fell out from her ponytail. "I'm Juliet Capulet," she said, introducing herself. She gestured towards her brother. "And this is Julius."

I focused back on her name. "Wait, Juliet Capulet? Like-"

"Yeah. Like the play." She put her hands on her hips. "Just so you know, I'm not in any immediate danger of killing myself for true love."

"I'll keep that in mind," I said, smirking at her.

"Sorry I was a little nervous earlier. I…um, I tend to get jumpy. Especially because of what happened last year."

"Which was?"

Her brother, Julius, frowned. "You really don't know?"

"No. My mom's kind of protective of me," I grumbled. "She didn't want me to learn anything about the Thieves' Guild before now."

"I'm not gonna say, if you don't mind," Juliet said, nervous again. "It wasn't a happy experience."

"Okay…" I paused for a moment. "So you've been around the Guild before?"

"Practically lived here," she confirmed. "Our family's pretty high up in the Council."

"Do you know any of the others?"

The twins looked at each other. "We know about Razor Medici," she informed me. Her brother stayed silent. I guess she did most of the talking for them, despite her being the less calm one. "That's the Bruce earlier."

"The guy who tormented Master Voleur?"

Even Julius chuckled. Juliet continued. "Um, yeah. Rumour has it that he doesn't really want to be here. Rather go off and study medicine, apparently. There was a whole fight of it last winter, and his mother won." And now we're stuck with him.

"And the other girl? The one who wants to kill me?"

"She doesn't want to kill you," Juliet assured me. "Maybe just beat you up or something."

"Gee, that's a real comfort."

Her lips twitch upwards, but she fights to keep her smile down this time. "We've never seen her before, either—which is weird, since we at least know most of the kids who're here."

"Probably another case of an overprotective parent," I said.

"And yet," Julius mused, catching my attention, "she knows a lot about the Guild more than a lot of newbies do. Just thinking out loud," he said. "I guess she could've always read it up or something, though I don't know what kind of book that has any information on the Guild that hasn't been burned."

I'm going to have to hide my journal.

"We can always ask her," Juliet reasoned.

"Somehow, I don't think she's the sharing type," I said.

Juliet shrugged. "Then the one thing we really know for sure is that her name is Kayley Halvard. She introduced herself before you got there."

"Uh-huh. Right." I shake my head. "To sum things up, in my first day of training I've found out I'm really ignorant of thief stuff, annoyed a guy who doesn't want to be here, irritated a teacher and almost got into trouble with my parents, and made an enemy of a scary Acara girl." I sighed with a realization. "Most of the class hates me."

Just then, a lady called after them. Julius immediately sprinted away, like it was automatic. Juliet gave me one last smile before she left. "Not all of us, Hanso."


	2. The Month of Awakening, Age 7

The Month of Awakening

_Entry 4: Summer Vines_

Today I tried to talk to Dad more about Summer.

Mom was in the Guild, off to some errand or whatever, so she didn't hear. That's pretty much what I wanted. Mom always acted weird whenever Summer came to visit—not like she was jealous or angry or anything crazy like that, but almost a little scared. I guess I can't blame her. For a thief, it must've been hard to show a guard your house where she could locate you at any time. I was too young to really understand that.

Out of the three of us, Summer had always gotten along with Dad the most.

We were eating sandwiches – the best food either of us could whip up with Mom gone – when I casually asked him whatever happened to the guard that used to come and visit us every month or so. He nearly choked. "Er, which guard is that, son?" he said, after taking a long sip of water. He smiled at me patronizingly. "You know we can't let any of those here."

My jaw dropped. Now my _dad _was saying that Summer was imaginary, too?

"You're gotta be kidding me," I muttered. "Am I really going crazy?"

"What?"

"Dad, Summer Vines is _real, _isn't she?" I asked pleadingly. I remember Mom saying something about me having a wild imagination when I was little, but I couldn't remember making a person up. It was kind of creepy.

To my relief, Dad sighed. "Yes, Hanso, she's real." He studied the faded tablecloth. "You were very young when she called up. I was just hoping that you've forgotten about her already."

"Why?" I said, frowning. "I remember she was nice."

Nice = Gave me cookies.

"Well, yes," he admitted. "She was nice. But…ugh, I don't want to explain it to you at this age, Hanso."

I glared at him. "I'm a full-fledged member of the Thieves' Guild and seven years old. That's almost grown up. I think I can handle a few details."

He paused for a minute, studying me. He rubbed his temple like he did when he was thinking hard about something. Finally, his shoulders slumped. "Okay, son. You know, being a guard…it has certain risks."

"So does being a thief," I chime in.

"Yeah. But, you know, we're not really obligated to do anything for anyone other than ourselves and the Guild. We can turn away from fights if we want. For guards, it's really different. Their job is to protect people, no matter what the cost to themselves. Summer took her job very seriously. She followed the guards' code of chivalry to the letter, and she paid for it. You know what I'm saying?"

"….I guess." To be honest, I wasn't sure. Dad wasn't the best at explaining stuff; Mom was the better teacher of the two of them, but I didn't really want to ask her. It'd lead up to a lot of awkward questions on why I wanted to know, and as soon as she found out she'd go on a long lecture about letting things go and not holding grudges. Even though I'm not holding a grudge. (I just want to prove Kayley wrong—is that so bad?) Still, I didn't even know what _obligated _meant until I looked it up later.

I'm just thinking that Summer became a workaholic or something and she can't come over anymore, probably also because my parents are thieves.

I can understand that, I guess, but I still need to prove to Kayley that she isn't evil.

"Good." Dad beamed at me. "I'm glad we had this talk."

"Me, too." Even though I had no idea what he meant.

_Entry 5: A Strange Lady_

Okay, _this _is really worth writing about. I'm still a little confused on what happened, but maybe putting it down on paper will help.

Today was one of our marketplace days; that's when we get to scour a square of the kingdom by ourselves, while Master Voleur stands on hand. We mostly pick the places where there are few or only trainee guards, so we get a better chance of not getting caught. Not that we really need it. The twins are crazy-fast when they want to be, Razor's tolerable enough, and Kayley is….well….okay.

Fine. She's probably the best one in our group. But I'm a close second!

I hope she doesn't read this.

Anyway, we mostly have free time when we roam around; provided that we give Master Voleur all our spoils and tell him what we learned that day, he pretty much lets everything go. We don't even have to stay in his line of sight. So, after stealing for a tenth time (and maybe being a little show-offy while doing so), it makes sense for me to get this awesome idea of checking to see where Summer Vines is for myself. I knew where the Guard Base was, and it's not like I'm a well-known thief yet.

Besides, who could resist a cute kid like me?

Just as I made up my mind to do it, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Juliet smiled up at me. We've been getting closer since last month; at least she doesn't seem so nervous to say hello anymore. "Hey," she said real casual, with her hands in her pockets. As always, her big brother stood behind her watching. I tried not to squirm. "Where are you wandering off to?"

I hesitated. I didn't really want to involve either of the twins in anything. "Around."

"Can I come?" she asked. In a whisper, she begged, "_Please. _The candy shop is _right _over there, and if I'm not distracted I'm almost sure I'm going to do something that I'll really, really regret."

I snickered. "A little chocolate once in a while isn't so bad, you know."

"It is to me," she said gravely. "So, can I come with?"

"I'm not sure if you should."

There was a short pause.

A hurt expression crossed Juliet's face. "Okay," she said, taking a few halting steps back. "Sorry I bothered you."

"Wait! It's not _that_," I told her hastily. Partly because Julius was giving me a big-brother look, partly because Juliet really is nice and I didn't want her to feel insulted. "It's just…it might get you into trouble."

She crossed her arms. "We're thieves, Hanso. We're automatically in trouble."

I laughed a little. "Well, this is a little radical anyway, even for us."

I told them my plan. Like I expected, Julius looked downright horrified, and Juliet was staring at me with huge eyes. "Hanso," she said slowly, "Please don't be offended when I say that can be a really, really, _really _bad idea."

I shrugged. "I know. But my parents don't really want to talk about it, and I just can't leave it like that."

"Let me get this straight," she said sceptically. "You're doing this so that you can prove Kayley wrong."

"Yeah, pretty much."

Another short pause.

"Okay," she said, nodding. "I'm in. What do I need to do?"

"_What_?" her brother burst out. "Juliet, are you nuts?"

"Possibly," she admitted. She gave me a mischievous smile—a hint that maybe there's a bit more spark to her than her sweet personality. "But I'm bored, we've fulfilled what we need to do today, and besides, I wouldn't mind getting a look around at the Guard Base."

Julius frowned thoughtfully. "Yeah….scoping out the competition."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I exclaimed. "I'm not there to _spy _on them."

Juliet tilted her head. "Of course not, Hanso. But while we're there, might as well multi-task, right? See what we're up against?"

I had to admit there wasn't really anything wrong with _that._

"So come on," she said, hooking her harm around mine. "By the way, what's your plan for getting us in?"

"I walk up to them and ask."

"Of course that would be it."

That really _was _it. I saw no reason for them to be hostile to me; at least I didn't until we were in the fancy lobby. Then, well—I'm no girl, but being raised by my mom taught me to be self-conscious at times, and I was horribly aware that we weren't exactly wearing the fanciest clothes. Even Julius tugged at the collar of his jacket. At least they didn't stop us. I walked over to the lady Ruki who seemed to be receiving all the questions. She smiled at me kindly. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Yes ma'am," I said innocently. "We're looking for a guard. She's been our role model since, well, _forever, _and I really, _really _wanted to meet her." I gave her an adorable grin. As expected, she softened even more at this. "Can you take me to her? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Oh, sweet pea, I'd love to," she cooed. I was just about to congratulate myself when she added, "I'm sorry to say, though, that the only ones allowed to visit the Guard are members of their family. That's the rules." She smiled apologetically.

"But-" I screwed up my face. If she hadn't been looking, I would've poked myself in the eye as well to make some tears, but putting my hands over my face and making whimpering sounds was all I had then. I heard the twins making sounds behind me, too, but I think it was just them trying to hold back their laughter. "But I…I wanted…"

"Don't cry!" the lady exclaimed, dismayed. She put her hand on my shoulder. "Tell you what. Give me the name of the guard you're looking for, and I'll try to arrange some sort of meeting for you when he or she's out on patrol. Okay?"

It was a pretty good offer, and probably as best it was going to get. I nodded. "Her name's Summer Vines."

The lady's smile vanished. "_Summer Vines_?"

"Ye-es," I said, confused by this sudden shift in attitude. "What's the problem?"

"Are you _sure _that's who you're looking for?"

"Um, yeah."

"How long since you've heard of her?" she questioned.

"Uh…" I frowned. "It's been a few years, but that's not _so _long, right? I mean, she didn't transfer or anything?"

She took a deep breath. "Honey," she said softly. "Don't you know that Summer Vines is-"

"_My necklace!"_

There was an exclamation behind me. A huge Kacheek, with pasty-scarlet lips and heavy-lidded eyes, strode up and pushed her way past Julius and Juliet. Her hands were on her hips, and she was staring straight at me. The Ruki lady glanced up, frowning. "Anything I can help you with, miss?"

"_Yes_," she huffed, jabbing a finger at me. "I was here to complain about my missing jewellery—but now I see this scoundrel has stolen it!"

"Excuse me?" I said, trying to sound insulted. "Why the heck would you think that?"

Behind her, I saw Julius face-palm, while Juliet frantically pointed at my pockets. Right there, part of the jewellery was hanging out.

I glimpsed at the Ruki lady. Her sweet face was beginning to harden.

Fudge.

Before either of the women could say anything, I turned heel and grabbed the twins, bolting straight for the exit. Normally, this would have worked.

But we were in the Guard Base, and naturally, guards were standing in our way. A Shoyru and a Lupe, to be precise.

Juliet was the one to save us.

She pulled me and her brother and shoved us to an open window. The twins managed to land okay, sort of—but as soon as I fell, I heard something crack.

"Hanso!" Juliet shrieked, rushing to my side. "Are you okay?"

"I think I broke something," I mumbled. My left arm felt numb.

"_There they are! Get 'em!"_

I moaned. "Go ahead…without me…."

"But-" Juliet began, but her brother tugged her along.

"You heard the man! Let's get going!" With that, they ran out of sight.

"Wait!" I cried, too late. "I was just kidding!"

The sound of footsteps was getting closer. Painstakingly, I forced myself to get up and start running. At least I had a bit of a head start. I sped towards a grove of trees and looked for somewhere to hide. I found a good place, a tree with thick branches and leaves, but my stupid arm wouldn't allow me to climb it. I was just about to give up and try to find another way, when a small, cruel chuckle rang out. "Having a bit of trouble with the guards?"

Kayley.

It was a good hiding place, all right—and a nice one too, apparently. Kayley once again blended in like a shadow. She seemed to be just _relaxing _there; which I have to admit, was exactly what I usually do in all our other marketplace trips.

"Yeah, yeah," I muttered. "Help me up?"

She studied her nails. "I don't think so."

"_What_?" I yelped.

"You did have it coming," she said, smug as a Hissi.

"Come on, Kayley," I pleaded with her, panicking. "My dad's going to look all sad when he hears about it, and Mom—my mom would _kill _me. Do you want to have my _murder _hanging over your head?"

For a moment, her eyes darted to me, as if she almost believed what I said; then she shook herself out of it and went back to acting indifferent. "I'll take my chances." A corner of her lips curved upwards. "In fact, I see no reason why I shouldn't tell the guards where you are right now. You're _friends _with them, after all."

"That's not fair!" I shouted at her. "I wouldn't tell if _you _did something wrong."

"How comforting."

Footsteps were coming near again.

"_Please_!" I begged.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Hanso, stop being so lazy. Climb up yourself."

If she was on the ground, I would've kicked her. "_My arm is broken_!" I snapped. "How am I supposed to do _that_?"

She blinked, as if she was surprised. "What hap-"

And then the guards burst into the grove. I only had time to speed out of there before I felt they were closing up on me. I tried to run faster—but they had more stamina, not to mention more experience. I turned round to a shadier alley, where few shoppers were. It was my only chance, I thought. The streets at this part are generally really confusing and twisting, so I hoped my luck would hold and I'd lose them somewhere over there.

My luck did not hold.

As soon as I raced around a corner, I bumped straight into another lady, this time an Acara. She grabbed my shoulders before I could topple as both. "Whoa. Slow down, kid." I froze. The alley was quiet and ghost-like, and shadows and darkness were everywhere. The lady's violet-blue eyes were haunting. "What are you running from?"

"The guards," I answered unthinkingly. I cringed when I realized what I just said; she'd turn me in for sure.

"The guards, huh? And why's a kid like you scared of _them_?"

I tried to struggle, but man, her grip was _strong. _It was clear she wasn't going to let me go until I gave her an answer. "I, er, stole something."

"Oh."

Pounding footsteps and ragged pants. I heard them even from where the lady was holding me.

I was toast.

But the lady just laughed. "No need to look like _that, _sweetheart. I can handle the guards. Just get behind that barrel over there."

I stared at her. "Why-"

"They're coming." So behind the barrel I went.

Five seconds later, the two guards trooped, gasping heavily. "Wow," one of them commented. I was pretty sure that was the Shoyru."That kid moves _fast_."

"I'm gonna _kill him_," the other one, the Lupe, seethed. "Slash him to pieces and throw him the fire."

A snort. "Good luck with _that_, Harry."

The Lupe ignored him. "He can't have gotten far. Maybe someone saw him—hey, lady!" he called out.

"Yes?" I heard the Acara say.

"You see a little blue Ixi run somewhere?"

"Of course," she said calmly. I bit my lip to stop from crying out.

"Really? Which way did he go?"

"That way."

I braced myself to be found and prepared to fight for my life, but no gloved hand came to get me. Then I heard the same voice say, "Erm….that's a dead end."

"But he _did _go that way," the lady insisted. "He climbed up the wall."

"He…climbed up the wall," the Shoyru repeated.

The lady huffed. "Are you calling me a liar? I thought they called guards _chivalrous._"

"We are!" the Lupe assured her.

The Shoyru finished. "But, uh, no offense, that's kind of hard to believe."

"No one appreciates a lady's opinion nowadays."

"Of course we do!" the Lupe said frantically. "Uh, we respect everything you say! Come on, let's check the other side of the wall."

"But Harry-" the other guy was starting.

"Shut it," the Lupe snapped. I heard the sound of scraping, which I took to mean that he was dragging the Shoyru away. There was a sigh, and the two took off in the other direction.

Immediately, I put my head up. "Is it over?"

"Pretty much," the lady told me. "But if you want to make sure, you can stay in there for a bit."

"I'll take my chances," I said, climbing out. It might have saved me a trip to prison, but my hiding place sure was stinky.I saw the lady walking away. "Hey, wait!" I called, tumbling after her. Mom always tells me to show my gratitude to anyone who helps me. She paused. "Uh, thanks. I thought I was dead for sure."

"You're welcome," she said, turning away again.

I trailed after her. She wasn't protesting, so I guessed it was okay. "That was seriously cool, you know. Most of the time I just run, but you actually _talked _them out of following me. Sort of." I grinned a little. "I wanna know that trick."

She chuckled. "It's not all as impressive as you make it out to be, sweetheart."

"Yes it is!"

"They weren't even proper guards yet."

I frowned. "What?"

"If you hadn't noticed, they were only around eleven or twelve years old."

"Seriously?" I thought about it. They _did _look young, but in my defence, the Lupe guy was _ginormous. _"I guess I was too focused on running away."

"You have your priorities straight, then. Besides, I already knew a little about the Lupe to know what to say to him—big on promises and chivalry, if nothing else." For a moment, I thought I saw her hands clench, but she let them go so quickly I'm still questioning whether that was actually real or not.

Eventually, we reached the end of the alleyway and stepped out in the sunlight. I took a closer look at the lady. There really wasn't much to say. She wore a dark-green long-coat and a fedora hat that covered a bit of her face; nothing too fancy or suspicious that made her really stand out from a crowd. But her violet-blue eyes were as strange as they were in the alley. She caught me staring, and smiled. "Not much to look at, huh?"

I told the truth. I'm seven, so I can still get away with complete honesty without getting in trouble. "I think you're pretty. In an odd way." I searched my vocabulary for a bit. "I think my mom would call it _alluring._"

She laughed. Not like she was making fun of me—more like she was amused. "Thank you, sweetheart. Most of the time people just say I'm not as nice-looking as my sister." I hoped she'd say more. She didn't, and I decided not to press.

"So," I said, fishing for a topic. "Are you in the Thieves' Guild?"

I fully expected her to say yes. Instead, she shook her head determinedly. A scowl was on her face. "No."

"Why not?" I asked, surprised. I didn't see her steal anything yet, but if she was as good at that as she was at talking to people, she was more than qualified enough to enter. She said nothing. "Uh, I can ask my parents about it," I said helpfully. "Maybe one of them can ask you to be a recruit."

She stared at me for a second before smiling again. "Don't bother, sweetheart. Even if they accept me, _I _wouldn't accept _them_."

"What? But being in the Thieves' Guild is awesome!"

"For some, perhaps. Not for me." Her brow furrowed. "What happened to your arm?"

I'd almost forgotten it was damaged. "I broke it." I didn't want to tell her about my disastrous attempt at jumping out of a window; she'd probably think I was stupid.

She bent down and held my arm carefully. From what I could make of her features, she seemed really concerned. "At least it's a clean break," she said finally. "No blood; no bones sticking out of your skin." I gave her a _that's-so-gross _look. She chuckled. "It's happened to a few people I know. You're actually very lucky; all it needs is a good setting and a cast."

"A _cast_?" I said in dismay.

"Oh, come now. You and your friends can draw little pictures in it."

I imagined Kayley writing _'In your face!' _on it and shuddered. "How long do you think I'll need one?"

She shrugged and leaned against the wall. "A few weeks, maybe? I don't know. That's pretty much it with my medical skills regarding bones; you should get it checked up by a proper physician."

"Fine," I said reluctantly. "Thanks again. My name's Hanso, by the way. What's yours?"

"Nothing personal, hon, but I make it a point to let nobody know." She slung her hat over her eyes, shading them from the sun.

"Why?"

A faint smile appeared on her lips. I knew what it meant—it was a refusal to answer. "See you around, kid."

So that was that. I went back to Master Voleur (refusing to tell him what happened), who was both nervous and furious about my broken arm. Razor, of all people, offered to escort me to the medical room—but the twins beat him to it. They looked really guilty about leaving me behind earlier; which I could hardly blame them for, since I _did _say they could go. It was nice to have them around when Dr Kent (the only physician in Brightvale who offered his assistance to thieves) set my arm.

Especially since Julius was tall enough to hide behind when my mom came to get me.

_Entry 6: Injuries_

Kayley is now officially the first one of my group to get jailed.

I was completely ready to tease her about it, when Master Voleur informed me flatly that she went to jail to rescue _me. _I would've thought he was making it up, but I know Kayley wouldn't have let herself get caught unwillingly; she was done with her work and lounging up a tree when I'd told her I was being chased. He then said, in a half-irritated, half-impressed tone, that she'd actually broken out of jail and was half-way out by the time he came to get her.

Figures.

The most shocking thing was that she didn't tell him that I was coming from the Guard Base, which would've put me at my mom's ruthless mercy. She simply said that she thought I was in trouble, and went to help.

I appreciated it. I really did. I was prepared to apologize and all that jazz too, and even let the guard argument go. Only, I think I began very, very wrong. "So," I said, once Master Voleur was out of earshot. "You _do _have a conscience!"

She gave me a death-glare, and I quickly backpedalled. "I didn't mean it like _that. _I meant to say…"

"Hanso," she said, in a weird tone of voice. She looked straight in my eyes. "Were you serious when you said that if I did something wrong, you wouldn't tell on me?"

"Well, yeah. Of course."

"Good."

Then she punched me on the face.

Let me repeat that.

_She punched me on the face._

Which was why, a few hours later, Mom had to pick me up again in the medical room and scream at me until my ears died, while the rest of the class stared and Kayley watched smugly from a corner.


	3. The Month of Running, Age 7

The Month of Running

_Entry 7: Scrutiny_

When I said I wanted recognition, I didn't really mean I wanted to be thought of as the boy who'd gotten beat up by a girl within his second month of the Thieves' Guild. But there was nothing I could do about that.

The day after the incident happened, I've spotted some kids from the other groups laughing when they saw me. None of them dared approached me openly – my parents were too well-respected for that to happen – but they refused to acknowledge me, either. I hate to admit it, but it kinda hurt.

At least Kayley didn't bother to mock me about it. Seems like our little spat last month was enough for her; she didn't even try to investigate what I was doing in the Guard Base, though once or twice I'd seen her approaching the twins and then backtracking. She blended in the shadows more than ever, and after a week watching her rebuff a lot of people's attentions, I'm starting to wonder if she actually preferred it there.

Neither Mom or Master Voleur are letting me out of their sight. The latter's even stopped giving marketplace sessions for now, temporarily ending my quest for information about Summer Vines.

It was awful.

Terrible.

_Boring._

But it would've been bearable, if it hadn't been for one thing.

Master Voleur had spent the morning teaching us basic first-aid, which all thieves needed to learn and few actually grasped. To me, it was a little bit pointless. Mom had instructed me about it _over and over _again since I was three years old (and yet again after my injuries last month), and I was feeling kind of restless. I thanked Fyora when some messenger came in claiming Master Voleur had a letter, and he chose to leave the group without a second thought. I guess he forgot that our group had an apparently violent fight last month, and he left us with some potentially dangerous objects that we had no idea how to use.

Nothing could go wrong!

Not that I blamed him. He probably wanted to escape the lecture as much as I did.

After a while, I strode over to Juliet and Julius was. They really had become the closest thing to friends I had in the Thieves' Guild, and I'd begun to stick with them when I can. They didn't seem to mind; on the contrary, Juliet was usually glad to see me, and Julius had decided that if his intimidation didn't stop me from coming to them, then I was all right in his book.

This time, however, they visibly backed away. I looked at them questioningly. Juliet shot me a desperately unhappy look, but went on conversing with her brother and ignoring me.

"Oh, they're not going to speak to you."

The voice was behind me, and I instantly whirled around to find the person I'd been mostly avoiding since I first joined the Guild: Razor Medici. He'd toned down his overbearing attitude in the last few weeks, but I didn't forget how much of a jerk he was in the first lesson; some days, I'd still see Master Voleur stealing glances at him worriedly. But if he ha any info d on why the twins were acting this way, I was willing to put up with him to hear it.

"What do you know, Medici?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Already decided you don't like me?"

"I think we should just get to the point."

He titled his head up. For a moment, I thought he'd refuse. Then he smirked. "Well, you're refreshingly honest. Rather rare in a place where everyone grabs and takes."

"Just spit it out."

He turned to me, giving his full attention. "The Capulets are one of the three leading families of the Thieves' Guild – the Big Three, most people call them – and as such, they have to be careful choosing their allies."

"And this relates to me, how? They've already been _allying _with me for a month."

"But they're families have only heard about it recently." Another smirk. "When they questioned the twins about _someone _getting beaten by a girl."

"It's about _that_ again?" I groaned.

"I'm afraid so. As I hear, Juliet slipped something about it not being your fault, they pressed for further information about your relationship with them and the rest is history. Their family simply doesn't like the look of yours—your folks have too little influence or power to interest them, and they have certain reservations about you anyway."

"Brilliant," I muttered.

"Indeed."

I glanced up, focusing on him. He was staring at me through his spectacles, as if analysing and dissecting me then and there. "And what about you?" I asked, challengingly. "What are you doing talking to little ole me?" From what I've heard from the twins, his family was part of the Big Three, too. "Don't you have some expectations and stuff to follow?"

He looked at me intently. His blue eyes were deceptively calm. "I take it that your opinions of me are from what the twins told you?"

I shook my head. What I heard from the twins was fairly positive, and I just can't picture Juliet saying anything rude about anyone. No matter how much they deserved it. "From how you acted in the first lesson."

"What do you care about Master Voleur?"

"He was nervous. He shouldn't have been so mean to him." If it were me, my mom would've yelled off my ear by now.

"He showed weakness," he said levelly. "A big mistake in the Thieves' Guild."

"He's new," I snapped back. "Don't be so quick to judge him on first impressions."

"And you don't think I should be offered the same courtesy?"

_Trapped._

"Don't worry about it," he said, after a pause. There was a tiredness in his tone that I didn't pick up from before, like he was already used to this; and I've gotta admit, it made me feel almost sorry for him. "You already know that I don't want to be here, correct?" I nodded. "Then as an answer to your earlier question, yes, my family have also told me to stay away from you. I am blatantly ignoring them."

"You're talking to me just because you know it'll annoy your family?" I said in disbelief.

He shrugged. "I've been told I'm looked down upon by them anyway. We seem to share that, at least."

The grin was on my face before I could stop it. "I'm honoured."

An answering smile. Genuine this time, I think. Then his eyes dropped down and stared at the equipment in his hands, automatically folding and unfolding the bandages within seconds (impressive, I thought, considering his hands consisted of flippers). After a while, he said passively, "You don't know much about the Thieves' Guild, do you?"

"Nope. Just that we're a generally bloodthirsty group and respect power."

"Knowledge _is_ power," he said quietly. "I suggest you attain some at once."

"…how?"

"That's a good question." He kept on working on his bandages. I'm becoming skilled with people's subtle messages—basically, he was saying, _Figure it out for yourself._

I sighed. "Is there anything _you _can tell me?"

Razor paused. For a moment, he seemed to be arguing himself, weighing his options and the benefits of each. Then he fixed that blue-eyed gaze on me and said carefully, "Tread cautious here, Hanso. My family doesn't like rebels, and they eliminate anything that they think might be a threat to their power. They keep an especial eye on the new recruits. And now, you've already caught their attention."

I stared. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Master Voleur then chose that moment to come back. He frowned at us, quickly separating Razor and I and telling us to get back to work (as if he hadn't been slacking off like two seconds ago).

Probably didn't matter, anyway.

From the strangely horrified look on Razor's face, it seemed that he'd already said too much.

_Entry 8: Knowledge_

I went to the kingdom library completely by accident. It wasn't even my choice, really.

Master Voleur might have let up with the no-marketplace-sessions thing (mostly because he'd run out of ideas on stuff to teach us in the Thieves' Guild) but Mom certainly didn't. She marched up straight to the young teacher and coldly informed him that she would be taking me with her to work today to ensure my safety. She did this in front of the _entire class._

_DO YOU KNOW HOW EMBARASSING THAT IS?!_

Unfortunately for her, _her _job revolves around the marketplace too, so there was no real difference except I couldn't go poking around for information about Summer. And that she checked up on me like every thirty minutes. The hundredth time this happened, I said irritably, "Mom, I'm not gonna drop dead if you don't smother me."

"Funny, the evidence of last month seems to say otherwise," she retorted dryly.

I groaned. "I'm not a _baby. _I'm definitely not going to let it happen again." I'd never let Kayley get another chance to do it. "Give me at least a _bit _of freedom," I pleaded. Mom's strict, but she's also usually reasonable. "Look. I _promise _not to leave this square, okay? I'll try to stay out of trouble."

"_Try_?"

"_Will. _I _will _stay out of trouble," I corrected.

She smiled faintly, but lines of worry marred her face." If you're sure you'll be okay."

"No, Mom. I think I'll sink into a puddle and die if you aren't here to keep me upright." I began pushing her a little. "Jeez, I can take care of myself already!"

"Should I bring up last month again?"

"Mom!"

"Okay, okay. So eager to get rid of me, are you?" She flashed me one last smile and left, darting to an unsuspecting citizen who I was sure would soon be a few coins lighter.

We kept our promises. She checked on me only every half-hour. I stayed in the square. But after a bit of this, I inevitably began to get bored again. This wasn't fair. If Mom had just let off and I had a regular school day, I could've gotten more info about Summer and the Guard, or at least learned a few tips from Master Voleur. But _no, _I was stuck here. Rebellion surged. My eyes darted around for Mom, calculating how many minutes of freedom I'd have if I left now…

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's not nice to break your promises, darling."

That Acara lady again. The one that helped me last month.

I shifted immediately to denial. "I wasn't going to do anything."

"And lying, too." She sighed at me with mock-disappointment. "I had such high expectations for you, sweetheart."

"Could you not do that?" I said, irritated.

"Do what?"

"Call me _sweetheart _and _darling_." I was okay-ish with it last month (after all, the lady did save my reputation, sort of), and there's really nothing I can do to stop my parents from giving pet-names to me sometimes, but I just wasn't in the mood right then. Hate to admit it, but I was a sulking from nearly being caught out.

A hint of a smile played around her lips. "Okay then, sunshine."

I gaped at her.

"What's the matter, schnookums?" she asked me. She was definitely smirking now.

I put my hands on my hips. Somehow, I didn't think my pouty face would work on her. "Can't you call me by my real name? It's-"

"Hanso. I know." She shook her head at me. "You really are rather trusting, to give an utter stranger your name."

"Not such a stranger. You did save me from jail last month, remember?"

"We can be best buddies now," she said dryly. I couldn't help but grin. The lady seemed to have the same sarcastic sense of humour as I did, which was a nice change from people getting offended. Even Mom and Dad only put up with it. "No offense or anything, but I don't usually call people by their real names, cuddly-kins."

I winced at the terrible nickname. "I prefer _sweetheart._"

"Was that so hard?" she said teasingly.

I glared. "What are you doing here, anyway? Stalking me?"

She gasped and put a hand over her heart. "I'm hurt. Right here." I snorted. "No, darling. I'm here simply to enquire something very interesting I've heard."

"Which is?"

"Is it true that you got beat up by Kayley Halvard?"

I buried my face in my hands. "How do you even _know _that? I thought you weren't in the Guild."

"I have my ways," she said sweetly. "In any case, it's nothing to be ashamed of. That girl has scarily good fighting skills; you probably wouldn't have stood a chance even if you had expected it. Which, I gather, you didn't." She eyed me questioningly. I gave a sharp nod. "And now your mom's in overprotective mode?"

"Yep."

"Did Miss Halvard do anything to you besides this?"

"Surprisingly, no. I'd gotten nothing from her since then." I frowned thoughtfully. "Probably didn't want the attention we'd get if we were together."

"Probably." She gave me a small smile. "Thanks, sweetheart." She began walking away.

"Hey, wait a minute!" I called out. She turned, eyebrows raised. "You can't just _do _that. Show up, lecture me about keeping my promises, annoy me with nicknames, ask about getting beat up by a girl, and then vanish."

She tilted her head. "I _did_ say I was only here to enquire."

"Whatever." I began sulking again. At least it wasn't boring when she was around.

"Now who's sounding clingy?" she said in a sing-song voice. I glowered at the ground. After a while, she took pity on me and sat down. "If you're really _that_ bored, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to stay."I brightened. "Your mother comes 'round in thirty-minute intervals," she added matter-of-factly. "Approximately five minutes have passed. I hope you know I'll have to be gone when she comes back—she won't like your association with me."

"And you won't explain why?" Because, as strange as the lady is, and no matter how I sensed an air of danger around her, I wouldn't peg her as someone who'd actually try to do me harm.

"Nope. Are you going to start running away?"

"Nah." I figured I should make friends where I could, since the people that I actually _liked _aren't allowed to see me anymore.

We lapsed into comfortable silence.

"So," she said presently. "You've chosen stealing as your life's art. How noble." I decided not to answer that; it was the same argument I had with my mom, except stated more bluntly. "Besides your parents being thieves, is there any particular reason for that? Do you not have any other interests?"

"Hey. I have loads of other interests," I said defensively.

"Like…?"

"Reading." It was true. I did like picking up a book and finding other worlds in it; it was a pretty nice distraction at times. In fact, I was sort of regretting that I didn't bring a book, since I was so out-of-my-mind _bored._

She blinked. "I did not expect that."

"And you expected what, cliff-diving?"

She smiled. "No, it's just that I've never seen you in the library."

"Are you kidding? The stuffy old king would never allow thieves to touch his precious books."

"The stuffy old king doesn't have a choice," she parried lightly. "The library is public domain. Didn't you know that?"

I did. But I always felt excluded from there anyway, with the scruffy clothes and not knowing what I was supposed to _do_. Besides, Mom never took me, and I didn't think her to be one to keep me from looking into other jobs not related to thieving. Then again, she never did like dealing with nobles and the richer folks of she could help it.

Abruptly, the lady stood up and grabbed me by the wrist.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, struggling to get away. But like I said before, her grip was _strong._ "What the heck are you doing?"

"Taking you to get a library card, sweetheart," she replied promptly. "We have around fifteen minutes left. And no, you're not backing out."

Ten minutes later, the lady had intimidated the angry Yurble librarian in giving me access to the library for a period of twelve months, in which time I would be 'on probation'. If I managed not to destroy or lose a book, I'd get a permanent library card. As for the small fee for the registration….

"You're not paying for it _yourself_?" I said, surprised.

Her lips quirked upwards. "I don't suppose you have any money on you?" I shook my head. "If your parents were going to do it, they would have already done so."

"Yeah, but…" I turned scarlet. "I'm not looking for charity!"

"SHHH!" the librarian hissed.

I frowned, repeating the phrase in a lower tone. "I'm not looking for charity."

"I know. You're paying me back."

"Oh, now that's just unfair," I whined. "You should've told me before. Now I'm gonna have to go to my parents and-"

"I'm not talking about _money_," she said, smirking as she handed over the coins. The librarian huffed and gave her the temporary-membership card.

I paused. Not money was good. While I can steal and stuff on my own, what I get has to be given to the Thieves' Guild treasury, where it will be distributed equally among the members—some of them having starving families that only have that allowance to rely on. Keeping something for myself just wasn't an option.

Still, I didn't like the look of the mischievous glint in her eye. "What do you have in mind?"

"Call this a forward deal," she said, placing the card in my hand. "At some point in the future, I'm going to want something—information, probably. Don't worry, I'm not going to have you betray the Guild," she told me before I could protest. "Sometimes, my other sources can be _difficult_. If you don't mind telling me something I want to know in a while – something the general populace wouldn't be aware of – I'll consider the debt repaid."

"I'll only tell you the card's worth," I warned.

"Considering that you listed reading second only to stealing, I'm guessing that it means a quite a bit to you. In which case, I am satisfied."

She was right—I really was grateful. Which just meant that the price of the card just got higher.

I sighed. "Deal."

"Good. Now, I suggest you go back to the square and find your mother before she completely freaks out."

My eyes widened. I'd forgotten about the time!

"And darling?" she said, before I could go. I whipped my head around to face her. "I hope you know I won't always be around to help you get over embarrassment."

"Excuse me?"

She smirked. "The library would've been free for you to go any time, if you weren't too scared to go yourself. Knowledge is always open. Don't be afraid to seek it." With a tip of her hat, she strode on her heel and vanished through the shelves.

I ran, praying my mom didn't notice I left.


	4. Interlude: Julius

_A/N: In regards to interludes, they'll happen 3-4 times an HJ year, following no particular pattern. Just so you know, I worked on this on the plane. :P_

* * *

Interlude: Julius

* * *

_Just close your eyes, the sun is going down/ you'll be all right, no one can hurt you now_

_-Safe and Sound_

* * *

Juliet was not taking her separation from Hanso well.

Julius noted this carefully. She didn't outwardly complain; they'd learnt to hold their tongue from an early age, in case any unfriendly ears caused their words to haunt them. But for someone who knew his sister as well as he did, it was pretty obvious. She fidgeted. She paced. She stole glances. She did everything to learn about what he was doing short of straight out talking to him.

She _missed _him, desperately.

And though he didn't show it as much as her, he missed Hanso, too.

Not particularly for himself, though; Hanso was fun and loyal, and Julius was sure he'd make a good friend once he got to know him better—but for Fyora's sake, he'd only known the guy for two months. He could live without him.

The big factor, as always, was Juliet. Since the terrible incident from last year – one that, if spoken about, still gave her panic attacks – she hadn't been the same. She'd stuck close to him, not trying to make any friends of her own, going through the motions without a murmur. He'd done everything he could for her, but it was no use. She only showed signs of life when that Ixi thief began noticing her; Julius hated to admit it, but it was _him _who was helping her make progress with coping.

Amazing, since the guy didn't even know what Juliet was coping _with. _But maybe that was the point.

Now, Juliet was losing herself again, and he couldn't just stand by and watch it happen again. Measures had to be taken.

One morning, before class started, he slipped Medici and Halvard a note. Both the Acara and the Bruce raised their eyebrows at him, but he didn't dare answer them with Juliet still within earshot. They got the hint, thankfully, and left the questions after training. Julius escorted his sister to their home within the Guild hideout, and then doubled back, claiming he forgot something.

They were waiting for him in the Guild Hall.

Halvard went straight to the point. "What do you want, Capulet?"

He flinched inwardly. Before the first day, he'd assumed – with good reason – that he'd be the most fearsome in their group. It wasn't boasting. It had simply been the fact ever since he could remember, and he didn't think it would change now.

But the moment Kayley Halvard caught his eye, he knew he was beaten. He couldn't place his finger on what made him react like this, but for some reason, he was downright _scared_ of her. Maybe it was partly because of ignorance. The less you knew about something, the more unpredictable it could be. But Kayley's family, as far as he could tell, hadn't been well-known much in the Guild and didn't have many records; and it wasn't like she was offering any information about herself. All that he knew about her was that she was skilful and very, very intimidating.

He had to respect her that. And it was partly because of that he asked her to meet him.

"I'm assuming you know about my family's order to stay away from Laron?" he asked. They nodded. "I need to find a way around it."

Medici wrinkled his nose. "Why?"

Julius had been acquaintances with Razor since they were toddlers, but they'd never gotten close enough to be identified as 'friends'. Personally, he thought Razor was a bit of a know-it-all and a wimp; the guy didn't even want to join the Thieves' Guild, after all. But Medici he had connections that could help, and for his sister, he was willing to put up with him.

"I suppose you remember last year."

Medici nodded. To his surprise, Halvard did as well. No one was really supposed to talk about it anymore, and he'd thought that only the people who were actually _there _knew about it. "I have my ways," she said, before he could ask.

Touché.

"Well, anyway," he continued uncomfortably, all too aware of the steely grey eyes staring at him, "Juliet's been getting to know Hanso really well, and he'd been helping her improve a lot. I don't want that taken away."

"You want my family to push yours into giving in?" Medici asked.

Julius thought about it, and shook his head. He'd overheard a bit of Razor's conversation with Hanso a few weeks back about the Medicis already watching; and Medici attention was hardly ever good. He didn't want to give them another reason to find the new guy _interesting. _"Not unless there's another way to do it. Uh, I don't know much about your family," he said awkwardly to Kayley, "but if they could help-"

"No," she snapped.

He blinked. "Okay…you have any better ideas?"

"Question first. Why should I help you in the first place?" she asked.

For a moment, Julius was at loss what to do. People always helped when he asked, but with hindsight, that was probably because they were scared of him. That wasn't going to work with Kayley this time. "I'll owe you," he said finally, remembering the alliances the Capulets sometimes made. "One favour for another."

She nodded curtly. "Deadline for the goal to be accomplished?"

Even Razor gaped a little; the girl really knew her stuff. "No," he replied. "I just want this done as soon as possible."

She thought about it for a moment. "Deal."

"Medici, you in?"

"I don't see you doing any favours for _me_," Razor grumbled.

"_Medici_."

"Fine, fine."

"Good." The Acara girl stood up. "Plans aren't made in a day," she said by way of explanation. "But I'm sure I'll think of something soon. I'll keep you updated." She paused and turned around. "And if you guys think of something, I expect the same, all right?"

"Got it," Julius confirmed. With that, she strode out of the classroom.

There was silence.

Then abruptly, Razor said, "Please tell me I'm not the only one utterly terrified of her."

He wasn't.

But this was for Juliet. For her, he'd endure far worse.


	5. The Month of Eating, Age 7

_A/N: I'm back! :) And I have the rest of the year outlined. _

The Month of Eating

_Entry 9: Mom's Assignment for April Fools' Day_

I must not replace Razor's water with vinegar. (He's spluttered violently and demanded which one of us did it. Luckily, the entire class will cover for me.)

I must not dye all of Dad's clothes pink. (His face was red as a tomato since he had to go to work dressed like that, so it all matched.)

I must not make funny pictures of Master Voleur with a very long moustache and post them around the Guild. (He couldn't really assign me detention anyway. He forced me to take them down, but the damage was done—the adults couldn't stop smirking when they saw him, and all the little kids pointed at him and said, "Ooh! It's the Moustache Man!")

I must not put red colouring on Mom's plants and tell her that they're bleeding. (She actually checked a plant book to see if that actually happened before sending me to my room.)

I must not sneak out of my room when Mom punishes me. (This one wasn't really an April Fools prank, but whatever.)

I must not put green colouring on the Guild's food and convince them that it's a sign from Fyora that we have been chosen to be the 'green ones'. (To be a green one, you must grab as many berries as you can find and deliver them to Illusen right away. Some of the Guild members actually started to go to Meridell today. The faerie lady is sure gonna get a lot of berries—and when they come back, the Guild members are going to be _pretty _angry, so I made a mental note to hide from them.)

I must not put a sign outside the Guild's entrance that says: "Our new hideout is now in jail. Go there immediately." (The Guard is getting an early Day of Giving present.)

I must not put sneezing powder in random people's drinks. (You know how there's always these tough guys in bars always getting drunk? Well, there was one of them who was trying to impress some girl. So, he took a big swig of his drink, leaned down towards to kiss her, and sneezed everything out in her face. Awesome.)

I must not convince the Guild's younger members that Faerieland is falling. (I can't believe they fell for it, though. I mean, how in Neopia would _that _happen?)

There. A list of stuff I did to pranks I did today. Mom forced me to write them all down as well as what happened afterwards, and then see if I was sorry for them.

I regret nothing.

_Entry 10: Branch Master = Scary Person_

My punishment from my injuries has finally elapsed (partly thanks to the lady who warned me about the time) but that doesn't mean I don't see my parents during school hours anymore. Seriously. The time when I'm _finally _free and don't have Mom looking over my shoulder every few seconds, Master Voleur decides that we should learn more about how the Guild operates. So, he takes us deeper and deeper to the Guild Hall (where most of the working members usually stay) so that we could learn.

He's crazy, I think. Most of the people there that they wouldn't mind skinning babies, let alone _us. _Either that, or he's run out of lesson plans again so he sticks us in there and makes it up as he goes along.

The Guild Hall is a small, cozy-ish area. You wouldn't expect a place where thieves hang out to be cozy, but it _is. _Since our hideout is made up of caves, it's mostly cold and drafty, and there's very little light—here, people have fixed that problem by spreading out torches and putting up a roaring fireplace in a corner (enchanted so that no one could see the smoke from above). There are plush carpets everywhere, stalls where some of the more skilled members can sell their home-made products (and not be chased after by guards who thought they stole them), tables and chairs, bars where most of the tough dudes hang out…and a dais at the front of the room, so that the guy in charge could see everything.

Today, we went on the dais.

My parents were shooting worried looks at me as we got closer, but Master Voleur was all, _Everything's going to be fine. _You know, I don't think he was aiming for the dais in the first place. There was a stall right next to it that's owned by a _very _pretty lady called Callora whom I think he has a crush on. But when you drag the kids of three Council members past the home-base of the Council, you're really just _asking _for trouble.

"Children."

Julius, Juliet, and Razor flinched at the same time. We all turned around to find a Lupe guy staring at us, his eyes a cold, icy blue. There didn't seem to be anything really _wrong _with him; he didn't have that many scars marring his face, nor did he have enough weapons enough to arm a battalion, like I see a lot of thieves carrying sometimes. In fact, I wasn't scared of him much at all until he smiled at us. It was so creepy, so _empty_, I instinctively took a step back. "Master Vlade," Voleur said evenly, stepping in front of us. "What can I do for you?"

"Oh, I'm just passing through," he replied, studying as all. "This _is _where I mostly work." Voleur winced, as if realizing only then what an absolute _mistake _it was to bring us there. "So I thought I'd check on my nephew and his classmates. I've heard a lot of interesting things about them from Razor." His sharp gaze turned to the blue Bruce.

Razor crossed his arms. "Funny, I don't seem to recall saying anything about them to you."

"To me. What about Lucrezia?" Razor's mouth dropped open, and he laughed, which was at least as jarring as his smile. He patted him on the shoulder. "You should take care whom you give information to, Razor. You don't know who's spying for whom." He smiled at us again. "That goes for all of you, by the way. Think of it as a bonus lesson."

"And what exactly did I say?" Razor spat, testing him. "How do I know that Lucrezia actually-"

Vlade's eyes zapped to Kayley. "Good luck with the deal you made," he said casually. "Seems like you're the only hope, since I have no intention of backing Razor and Capulet is a very stubborn man. I hope you have something good cooked up."

What deal? I wondered, though that wasn't the best time to contemplate that. Kayley's eyes shot daggers at Razor. He closed his eyes. "Right. I get it."

"I'm not yet finished. Master Voleur, I'm _very disappointed _in your job results. What you're running are training sessions, not play-around-the-kingdom. One of your kids had apparently strayed off from the assignment you gave them. Another one got caught already." He shook his head, but I got the feeling he was more amused than mad. "Those are two strikes, Master Voleur. One more, and you're out."

"Got it," the Kyrii snapped. "Now excuse me, my children and I have to-"

"Juliet," Vlade called out. The Wocky girl stiffened. "You're recovering from the incident nicely, I hope?" She bit her lip and gave him a small nod. "Good. I've heard you're a bit quieter now—but I can't really blame you for that, I suppose. The Guild is doing all it can to make sure this doesn't happen again." He paused, and then added brightly, "At least it seemed to teach yoru father his place."

The twins looked as if they had been slapped.

"And Julius?" he said in a mild voice. "Take _proper _care of your sister this time, will you?"

The Wocky twin sucked in his breath, and his hand slipped around Juliet's wrist automatically. If there's one thing I've learned about him these past few months, it's that he hated not being able to protect his sister from anything. "I will," he managed to say.

"I mean," he continued, "you were _so _very gullible last time. From right under your nose, they harmed your sister. So irresponsible. If you had-"

"He was not!"

The sharp blue gaze was on Juliet again. "What was that?"

Juliet's cheeks reddened. Her hands fidgeted, and her gaze dropped on the floor. Julius held on to her hand tighter. "Irresponsible," she muttered. "He wasn't irresponsible. It was my fault. I wandered off on my own."

"Brothers should take care of sisters, shouldn't they?"

"I can take care of myself."

Vlade's eyebrows were raised. "What do you know. You still have some spark in you left." He sounded mildly impressed, like he was studying a fish he'd caught that was still alive even when he was roasting it. He patted her arm. "Well, just be more careful next time, Miss Capulet," he said, suddenly switching to respectfulness again. "You don't know what could happen in the dark." She nodded mutely.

Finally, he turned to me. I tried to look at him back defiantly, but I was shaking in my boots. I was hoping against hope that no one actually saw that. "You're Hanso Laron, right?" he asked.

"Thieves don't have to give out their names," I said, remembering the Acara lady.

There was a small gasp. Master Voleur was shaking his head frantically, and Kayley had face-palmed. "Since you're the only one left here, I'll hazard a guess and say you _are _Hanso," Vlade finally remarked. "Why the sudden secrecy?"

Honesty was usually the best policy for me. "You're not being very nice," I told him.

Now even Julius was looking at us in horror.

"I'm not?" He leaned down. "Well, I'm sorry you think that way, kid. I meant no disrespect." He bowed his head at us. "If you found anything I said to you offensive, then I offer you my deepest apologies. I do always want best for the Guild. Keeping tracking of the younger members is a part of that." He turned to me again. "Will that do?"

"I guess?" It came out more like a question.

"Mmm. Well,_ Hanso Laron, _I already knew about you even before my daughter told me anything."

"You did?"

"Yes. You see, your parents are…._special._" I frowned. My parents were excellent thieves, I knew—the best, as far as I could tell. They were smart. They were resourceful. They were kind. There were a lot of ways I would've described them, but _special_—well, they were, in a sense, but that's not always a good thing in the Thieves' Guild. "They have an interesting history. Did you know about that?"

I shrugged. "A little."

"Really?" He studied me carefully. I'm not exactly sure what he was talking about. I've heard some stuff enough from my dad's friends. Mom and Dad used to _loathe _each other – like, just-about-killing-each-other every second – but he was assigned to help her catch up with her thieving skills, and they got to know each other. They fell in love and get married. What more was there to it?

Well, there is the weird, gross part about getting a kid, but I already knew about that, too. I think The Talk scarred me for life.

"I knew they were special," he continued. "So I thought there might be a chance that their kid was the same way. Your…exploits have been reported to me." He smiled thinly. "Something about looking for a certain guard?"

I'm no Kayley, but I have to admit I glared a little at Razor too. _That weaselling traitor! _"Uh, yeah," I admitted. "Summer Vines."

"And how do you know this lady, Hanso?" he asked me.

It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him what I've always told everyone – that she was my dad's friend, and I'd basically grown up on her knee – but I spotted Juliet miming zipping her mouth. It dawned to me, then, that I didn't actually know who Master Vlade _was. _If I told this to him, there might be a chance that he'd get my parents into Very Big Trouble.

I tried not to sound nonchalant. "I've seen her around a couple of times," I said. "She was nice to me. And gave me cookies." Both were pretty much the same thing, anyway.

"Is that so?" he said, but he didn't wait for me to respond. His tone turned business-like. "Well, that's not all I've heard about you. You're a talented one, even if you aren't trained, right?"

I probably should've answered. As it was, all my mind could think about was, _Razor actually complimented me? _

"He is," Master Voleur replied. "They _all _are."

"Uh-huh. Well, kid, seems like you've got a bright future ahead of you. But," he said, tapping his chin, "I think you can use a few pointers." He waved to Master Voleur. "Have him meet me next month for a bit of private training. I'll send you a message when I need him."

Master Voleur frowned. "I don't think that's necessary-"

"Oh, you thought I was asking for permission. How cute," Vlade said. Voleur shut his mouth, but he glared. "Besides, what boy wouldn't want to be trained by the branch leader?"

I stared. "_You're the branch leader?" _There's a branch of a Thieves' Guild all over the world—it's been that way since the start of time, I think. Some call themselves by different names. The Scarabs, the pirates, all those guys. But when we really, truly need everyone, they'd answer our call and help.

In theory.

The main honcho is still Kanrik of Terror Mountain, since that's where the main base is, but each branch has a leader of its own, too. Kind of like a representative, I guess. When the Guild leader himself is not present, the branch master is the most important guy, and my parents always told me that when I meet him, I was to do _exactly what he said _and not cross him.

Only, they never told me exactly who he was.

I blame this entire mess on them.

As one, my entire class face-palmed. Master Vlade chuckled and shook his head. "Well, that might explain it. But that doesn't change anything." He spun on his heels and turned around, plodding to the dais without another word.

"Explain what?" I said, frowning.

"How unafraid you are of him," Juliet murmured.

I was _plenty _scared of him; I just didn't think it was worth cowering while my friends – or classmates, since I can't really call them that – were being mistreated. Out loud, I said, "I wouldn't be scared of him even if I did know who he was."

"Hanso," she said carefully. "He has the power to kick anyone out of the Guild."

"Or make their lives a living hell," Razor added. "You sure you're not worried about him?"

"Maybe a little worried," I admitted.

"Too bad," he snarled at me. "You _idiot. _Now you're going to face him, and who knows _what _he's going to do to you. He's going to teach you about proper respect."

I bristled. "Excuse me? You're saying that _I'm _the stupid one? Look who's talking, buddy! You're the one who spilled everything to Lu…Lu…whatever her name was!"

"_Lucrezia_," he said heavily. "His daughter. My _cousin. _And yes, I stand my decision to trust her. Read between the lines before you judge me, please," he said before anyone could say anything to him. "Despite it all, no, I don't think my cousin ratted me out. She isn't the type. Trust me."

"No," Kayley said simply. Asking for trust at this point was a bit too much for me, let alone _her. _

"Then at least give me the benefit of the doubt!" he huffed. "My cousin and I are very close. Ever since I told my family I didn't want to sign up for the Thieves' Guild, he'd been trying to pry us away from each other. I think this is just a ruse—he probably planted a bug somewhere in her room." He began muttering to himself about looking over the place inch by inch and covering it with poison. I don't know much about Lucrezia, but from experience girls in general don't want their rooms to be covered with foul-smelling toxins.

"Well, whatever's gonna happen, I'm going to _have _to see him next month," I pointed out. Then I remembered something. "Rats. My mom's gonna kill me again."

Master Voleur groaned. "Next time, I think we'll stick to the marketplace and classrooms."

_Entry 11: Unexpected Places_

Master Voleur is worried about my upcoming appointment next month. Mom's worried about my upcoming appointment next month. Dad's worried. The twins are worried. Razor's worried. Heck, my grandma is worried, and she _isn't even in Brightvale. _Ah, well. At least she did something about it. She's a gypsy, going from place to place, but somehow my dad managed to send her a letter and she sent another back giving me a list of tips of ways I could look for any attacks, as well as a drawing of the crucial spots on the body to hit if I need to make a quick escape.

I think the drawing is giving me more nightmares than the appointment.

But whatever. Unthinkable as it sounds like, I need a break from all the Thieves' Guild drama. A place where I could be free from all that for a little while. And thanks to the Acara lady from last month, I had one.

The library was grand as always, with its marble floors and its huge, polished bookshelves. I looked so out of place there that I got stopped several times by the guards there to make sure I was actually allowed in. But finally, the many volumes and tomes were available to me. I hesitated, wondering what should I pick first. Horror? Adventure? Mystery? The possibilities were endless.

My eyes dropped down to a book called _Sayings, and What They Actually Mean. _I took it down, curious, and began flipping through the pages. Some of them, I already knew. _Break a leg _and _clear as a bell _are pretty common sayings here; especially the first one, when thieves want to wish each other luck without sounding mushy. But _chewing the fat_? Seriously? It means talking about meaningless things, by the way.

But the one I really wanted to find? The one that said about knowledge is power and not being afraid to seek it, which the Acara lady had told me last month? Nothing. I mean, sure, I can guess the general meaning. If you want to know something, you should go look it up. I already do that, don't I? If I don't know a word, I look it up in the dictionary. But that didn't seem to be what she meant.

I was about to ponder more about it when I was rudely interrupted.

"_What are you doing here_?" came a hissed whisper. I looked up, shocked. I'd never seen anyone I knew here, and although it's also kind of just my second time inside, I didn't really mark this as a place where my kind of people came to.

Neither did Kayley, apparently. She was breathing hard, angry, as if this was her private property and I was intruding. "No one is supposed to be here!"

"Excuse me," I said in a dry tone of voice. "I don't see anything here about you owning the place."

"I never saw you here before. What are you doing? Following me?"

"What? No!" Paranoid, much? "I started coming here last month."

"Your parents paid for a library card?"

"Uh, no."

"Who did, then?" she demanded.

"I don't have to tell you-" I began to say, but her steely grey eyes cut through me like a knife. I knew she couldn't really do anything here – not when there were a lot of people around, as well as the guards at the entrance – but I knew instinctively she'd get the answer out of me sooner or later, possibly in a very painful way if I didn't say it now.

You can't underestimate a person who'd already punched you in the face.

"Look," I said, keeping my voice down. "There was this lady-"

"What's her name?"

"Uh….I don't know."

"You accepted a present from a _stranger_? How stupid _are _you?" she hissed.

"She wasn't a complete stranger," I defended myself. "She helped me escape from the guards once."

"Oh, sure. A lady who helps kids run away from the law is _completely _trustworthy!"

"She was really nice," I continued. "And besides, it wasn't exactly a present. I'm kind of paying for it—uh, a forward deal, kind of. A favour for later."

"A favour?" she repeated carefully, her brow creasing. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Hanso, was she an Acara lady that wears a trench coat? Sarcastic sense of humour, likes calling people nicknames?"

"That's her," I confirmed.

She closed her eyes. "I might've known," she muttered.

"Why?" I said curiously. "Is she dangerous?"

"Yes!"

My mouth dropped open.

"No," she admitted. "Well, yeah, but only to her enemies. Lucky for you, you don't seem to be among them." She glared at me. "But most people are, Hanso. If anyone found out you're talking to her, you're going to be in pretty big trouble."

"You're warning me not to talk to her," I said flatly.

Surprisingly, she shook her head. "Once she puts her mind to something, nothing can stop her. I'm just telling you not to get caught."

"And who is this oh-so-mysterious lady anyway?" I asked.

"If she didn't tell you, then I can't either," she replied smoothly. "Just be careful."

"Why do you care?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because you're-" I was about to say she hated me, when I realized I didn't know that for sure. It's not like _I _hated her. But, well, between the guard thing and the punching thing, I don't have a very fond opinion. She's a difficult a person _not _to hate. "Never mind." I began walking away. "Sorry for the intrusion, Your Highness," I called behind me. "I won't come back here next time."

"Hanso." She raced after me, grabbing my shoulder. Hard. I gave a startled, "Hey!"

"SHHHH!" said the Yurble librarian.

Both of us rolled our eyes at him. Then we realized what we were doing, and I couldn't help but smile. I'm not sure about Kayley—she quickly whipped around, hiding her expression. I followed her back to a small table in the corner, where no one could here us.

"I didn't say you couldn't come here," she told me. For the first time, she sounded almost nervous. "It's just—no one ever does, and it's usually where I meet..." She trailed off.

"The mysterious Acara lady?"

She looked at the distance nonchalantly. "Maybe."

"Never straight answers with you, huh?" I complain. "Why do you talk to her, anyway?"

She shuffled her feet. "I kind of have no choice in the matter. My mom told me to, okay?" she snapped before I could ask any more questions. "Anyway…you can come here any time you want. I'm not stopping you. I was just, uh, shocked, is all. I don't handle new ideas or change very well." She gave me a side-ways glance, and I realized it was the closest thing I was going to get as an apology from her.

"No problem," I said.

"Good."

We both just sit there awkwardly for a few moments. Then I stood up. She automatically followed my example—I couldn't help but think of one of those warriors Mom once told me about who never sit down when their enemy does in case they get an advantage. "I guess I better get going."

"Guess so. See you in training." She started to depart to the shelves.

"Kayley!"

"What now?" she said impatiently.

One of my grandmothers' pieces of advice is that I have a back-up. The guy would be less likely to harm me in front of other people. Ideally, I would've gotten the twins; I had no idea about how good they were in a fight – though I had a distinct feeling that Julius could hold his own – but they were nice to me and I knew I could depend on them.

Kayley's absolutely unreliable, and I don't know what she's capable of; but I couldn't help but be a little curious of her, as well as afraid.

While fear usually got people to stay away, it drew me in like a magnet. I wanted to see if I could get to know her. Not to mention see what kind of information she had about the Acara lady, or the deal that Master Vlade knew about. "Uh, could you come with me to my appointment next month? It's not like I'm _scared _or anything," I said hastily when her eyebrows flew up. "I just think it'd be a good idea to have someone around…"

"Is that even allowed?"

"I'm not really sure."

"I don't really like drawing attention to myself, Hanso."

"I can tell. You don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"Right. And you're asking me since I'm the only one available?"

"I'm asking you 'cause I think you're plenty smart and I think you can help me," I tell her candidly. But yeah, the above reason too.

She bit her lip, nervous again. It's strange. When we're talking threats and alliances, she's all fine. But when it came to something like _this, _where I'm trying to be friendly with her,it's like she's turned into a schoolgirl who had no idea what she's doing. "This'll really help you?"

"I think so."

She sighed, heavily, and I was thinking that she was going to refuse and I was going to say I was perfectly okay with it, when she said, "Fine. But if anyone asks, I did it 'cause your parents told me to and I owed you one."

She strode to the bookshelves without another word.


	6. The Month of Relaxing, Age 7

_A/N: I literally had to peruse a page of 'Nightmare Fuel' to write the scene below. Warning, because I'm going to make this abundantly clearer in this version than even in the old HJ: Just because Hanso's a seven-year-old for now doesn't mean that what he sees are good for seven-year-olds, especially since he inhabits the *much* darker side of Brightvale. The scene below is T-rated for violence. _

_On the bright side, it's a longer chapter than usual. :) _

The Month of Relaxing

_Entry 12: Pointers_

Today was horrible.

I guess I should be glad that I'm alive to actually write this, but man, it's so hard to feel good about something right now. Master Vlade is evil. _Evil. _I mean, I know I should've understood that before, but a part of me didn't really want to believe that the person in charge of this branch of the Thieves' Guild could be so cold-hearted. We'd all be screwed if he was.

We _are _screwed.

Ever since our last encounter, Master Voleur hasn't been able to take us out of the Guild hideout for our training. He wanted to. I could tell. He wanted to delay the moment of me having to go to the branch leader for as long as possible; maybe he was planning to let us go deep in the marketplace so no one could summon us. But the first and last time he _tried, _a thug was out in the entrance. He didn't explicitly say we weren't allowed to leave, but he said that Master Vlade _suggested _we should learn more about the insides of the Guild for the time being.

No matter what he said, the message was clear. We were trapped there until my appointment. Fortunately, none of the class seemed to hold it against me. The twins kept shooting me sympathetic looks – even if they still couldn't bring themselves to talk to me – and Razor seemed to be acting like he thought it was all _his _fault. If I only counted the meeting of last month, I would've assured him that it wasn't. But I had no idea what he had told his family before this, and honestly, I wasn't not in a forgiving mood.

He still hadn't told us anything about what he said to Lucrezia.

Kayley seemed to be more on her guard than ever before, shooting glances at everyone, as if trying to see who was going to summon as to the branch leader. Again, we had no idea if she was going to be _allowed _to come with me. I was actually hoping deep down that even if she _wasn't, _she'd follow me anyway. She did promise to come.

But then again, she owed me nothing.

We weren't friends. I'm still wondering why she agreed to come in the first place.

Finally, after much torture and waiting, the day came. We were in a middle of a lecture about sneak attacks – how to detect them, how to get out of them quickly, stuff like that – when I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Are you Hanso?" said a clipped voice.

When I thought of someone taking me to the Guild leader, I imagined a big, vicious henchman, trapping me in his vice-like grip and dragging me to a deep, dark corner of the hideout. But this person was not like that. At _all. _

She was a pretty Kacheek girl – a _very _pretty Kacheek girl – with long blonde hair braided in her back and her eyes the same cold blue as a branch leader I knew. She was frowning at me. I frowned right back. "Yeah," I said, cautiously. "Who's asking?"

"You don't need to know that," she decided. "Come on. I'm supposed to take you to Master Vl-"

"Lucrezia?"

Up till then, Razor's diminutive figure had been hidden by Julius's bulk. He walked around him, giving the girl a clearer view. The girl blinked several times, as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing. I couldn't help but notice her smile was a lot more nice than her dad's. "Razor?" she said, hopefully.

"No, his evil twin. Is Uncle summoning Hanso right now?"

"You know him?" Lucrezia countered with a question of her own. Her smile vanished, and her lips formed a thin line. As if this was our fault that we were sorted in a class together.

Razor shrugged. "Well, he and I have been betrothed since birth…"

"_Razor_," she sighed, managing to sound exasperated and amused at the same time.

"We were sorted in the same class, Lou. All there is to it."

"I see." Her eyes narrowed as she looked around the rooms' occupants. "A newbie, Laron, and the Capulets, hm? As well as an inexperienced teacher from a questionable background." Master Voleur shot her a glare, but said nothing. What was it with the Medicis intent on torturing him? "Someone seems to have taken the trouble of sorting you to the worst class imaginable."

"I certainly didn't choose."

"Standing right here," Juliet called out.

Lucrezia's blue eyes snapped to hers dangerously. "Still scared of the dark, Capulet? 'Cause there's still the Guild lock-up that my dad gave me the keys to…."

"Lucrezia," Julius warned. The threat hang heavy on the air.

She gave him a tight smile. "Don't worry, _habibi._ Daddy keeps his promises. He won't let it happen again." If anything, that comment made him tense up more. I wondered what she called him—I searched it up the dictionary later, and I don't think it's English.

"Speaking of Daddy," Razor reminded her. "He's probably waiting."

"Yeah," she agreed, turning back her attention to me. "You. Follow me and don't get lost." She said carefully, as if I was a two-year-old that'd wander off if I wasn't watched. I scowled. Okay, so I _do _still wander off if I'm not watched, but I don't need to be treated like a toddler. "And wipe that frown off your face. Believe me, you don't want to be perceived as disrespectful." She turned and walked away from our corner of the hall. She glanced behind her shoulder. "Well?"

"Um," I said intelligently. My eyes darted to Kayley. She gave me an almost imperceptible nod and, to my relief, stood up. Screw pride, I didn't want to face Master Vlade alone. "Can my friend come?"

"You're joking, right?" Lucrezia asked. "Did you not hear what I said about respect? Inviting someone else when my dad only wanted you is pretty disrespectful."

"Look who's talking, princess," Kayley snapped.

Lucrezia snorted, and then strode forwards so that she was right in front of Kayley. Her height – she was a head taller than her – was accentuated. She held her head high. "I'm the branch leader's daughter," she said in a sickly-sweet voice. "I don't _have _to be respectful. You, on the other hand, are an absolute _nobody._ Where's your parents?" She pretended to think. "Oh, wait, let me guess. Two layabouts who couldn't afford to do anything other than push you to becoming a thief."

I didn't know much about Kayley, but I could tell that comment hurt. She winced – only for a moment – and then she turned her glower back on. "Oh, so you're depending on _Daddy _to scare everyone away?"

"I can take you on myself, if that's what you want," she snarled.

"Can you?" Kayley didn't sound convinced.

Lucrezia's cold blue eyes locked with Kayley's grey ones, and for a moment, I actually wondered who'd win—the cold-blooded thief princess, or the fierce, strange girl everyone had been afraid of since she joined our class. Then Razor coughed. "Lou," he said, tiredly. "Just take her. If anything, your dad will intimidate them both so much they won't ever want to go to his presence again. They'll be shaking in their boots when they come back."

Lucrezia's lip curled slightly as she gazed at Kayley, like she was imagining that very thing. "Well, there's that," she conceded. "And it's not like he's going to take his anger out on _me._" She gave us a mischievous grin. "Fine. Have it your way, both of you. Just make sure to keep up."

Kayley, taking those words to heart, quickly walked after her.

I took a small glimpse back. Master Voleur was already continuing with the lesson, albeit more anxiously than before. Razor, the only one who noticed me, flashed me the barest of smiles. _Good luck_, he mouthed, before turning his full attention back to the teacher.

* * *

"Come in."

It was weird, but I didn't expect to have the Branch Master have a private study. I didn't expect a _thief_, any thief, to have a private study (not to mention one that had numerous locks and bolts that Lucrezia had to open). Those two words didn't seem to belong in the same sentence. Then again, neither did 'thief' and 'library', not to mention 'a friend who is a guard', so who am I to judge?

It took as long enough to get there. Lucrezia actually did have a point when she told me to follow her carefully and not get lost—she led us through a practical maze. When I asked her what it was for, she said, "To keep away intruders." I protested that there can't be any intruders in the Guild. She sighed, and then clarified, "To keep away people who want to bug him about their problems." Strangely, I thought that explanation was much more realistic, even though I didn't know anyone who'd be stupid enough to whine to Master Vlade.

He smiled faintly when he came in—the same empty, frozen smile that intimidated the heck out of me last month. Lucrezia, though, didn't seem to have the same problem, because she quickly strode forwards. "Hi, Daddy," she said. "Sorry I'm late. This—girl—insisted in tagging along." She shot Kayley another glare. To her credit, Kayley didn't say anything back.

She knew as well as I did we were in Lucrezia's territory now.

"No harm done," Vlade said, smoothing her golden curls. "You can go ahead, Lou. The lesson I'm going to teach them I'd rather you not see."

She nodded obediently and trotted to the door, skilfully unlatching the locks with her nimble fingers. Before she left, she stole a quick glance at me. Big blue eyes and all, apprehension written all over her face. Honestly, I don't think she meant any harm to me on a personal level. I didn't do anything to offend her so far. Maybe she just didn't want to feel sorry for the prisoners she was dragging to a monster that she knew would tear them down.

In any case, she followed her cousin's example, mouthing a quick _good luck _before quietly slipping out the door.

We were on our own.

"Now." He stood up to a towering height and walked over to us, and I couldn't help but notice how tall he was to me. At least when Master Voleur was there, he didn't seem so giant-like. "Last month, I promised I'd show you a few pointers. Is that correct?"

"Yes," I said nervously.

He nodded, as if I just passed some tests. "Good. Don't worry," he said, reading the anxiety on my face. "I just want to test your abilities, and make sure you know the proper rules and procedures about the Guild." This reassured me a little, but not Kayley. If anything, she stiffened even more.

"Sir," she said, "We've only been members for a few months."

He shot a look at her. I don't think he really noticed her before—even last month, when he seemed to be trying to needle every single one of my classmates, her insult was only half-hearted. As if he didn't really have anything to insult her _with. _He smirked. "My dear," he said. "I hope you're not going to use that as an excuse for a poor performance. You _are _members of the Thieves' Guild, no matter how recent your joining us was."

"That's not fair," I protested.

Vlade's brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Fair," he said, tasting the word on his tongue. "Haven't you already learned that life is not fair, Laron? I thought all thieves knew that."

"It wasn't really in the job description," I pointed out.

He chuckled. "No, I suppose not. But this is a _fact_, Laron. You must learn it. Was it fair that your only two friends are forbidden to speak to you because of their narrow-minded father?"

"No," I said, my heart sinking at the reminder.

He spread out his hands. "I'm not going to be _un_fair," he said. "This is simply an…assessment, if you will. Just to make sure you're worthy of being a member." His blue eyes tore through all my defences. "And yes, I expect you to know this. It _is _the reason why we accept thieves' children automatically without any tests—because we expect them to already have taught their children the basics. I hope your parents have taught you this?"

I wanted to say that my parents – and especially my mother – had kind of been overprotective of me. I didn't know much about the Guild until it was in it. But then Kayley, discreetly, shook her head behind Master Vlade's back, and I stopped myself just in time. It was a reminder that Vlade had a lot power, and he could easily harm my parents' jobs if he didn't like my answer. Kayley and I nodded mutely.

"Good." He looked at both of us approvingly. "Perhaps you coming along wasn't such a bad idea after all, Miss Halvard," he commented as he studied us. "Mmm…this could work. Yes. Neither of you have known each other very long, yes?" Again, we nodded. "And of course, I've heard of the – ah – scuffles you two have with each other. So, besides the fact that you have, for some reason, agreed to accompany Mr Laron here-"

"It was a favour," she said quickly.

"Mmm. I take it you have a mostly negative relationship with each other?"

I would've liked more time to think of it. In fact, if I _did_ – if I actually had time to think about what I thought about Kayley Halvard without me wanting to get back at her for something at that moment – I might've given a different answer. But Kayley's 'yes' came so rapidly, I gotta admit, all thoughts of thinking about the answer flew out of my head.

Maybe it was petty, but I was really, really annoyed. And irritated. And maybe, just a teensy bit hurt_. _Either way, I mumbled a 'yes' too.

"Good." With that, he grabbed Kayley and shoved me out of the room.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" I cried, banging on the door. Sure, I was irritated with her at that moment, but I didn't want her to get tortured or anything because of something that I did. Nobody answered, even when I kept rapping on the heavy wood. I don't think they even heard me.

I was about to resort to kicking it and screaming as loud as I could, when the door slammed open and a disgruntled Kayley was thrown out. She would've slammed into the wall if she didn't have such quick reflexes, stopping the impact at the last moment and sliding to the floor. "Ow," she muttered, rubbing her head.

"Kayley!" I grabbed her arm. It was the first time I went close to her without worrying that she might punch me at the next second. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"You're sounding like your mom right now, you know," she mumbled, rubbing her head.

"Hey!"

"I'm fine, Hanso. It's your turn." She wouldn't look at me in the eye as she pointed to the door.

My hands gripped the handle, but before I opened it, I asked again, "Are you sure you're okay?" Even if she wasn't looking at me, it was clear that she was awfully shaken. I'd never seen her this scared before—she gave me the impression that fear wasn't something she dealt with very much. But this time, she was clearly afraid of something. If that something could make _her _jumpy, I was afraid of what'd happen to me.

And fine. Maybe I was a little worried about her too.

She shook her head and pointed at the door again, and this time, I complied, pushing the heavy woodwork open. Master Vlade was standing there, a small smirk on his face. Like he was gloating about something. "Come in," he ordered me. I took a few steps forward. "Oh, and lock the door behind you, will you?"

That sounded ominous, but it wasn't like I could disobey him. Since there were several different locks - lock pads, the kind with gears, one with a complicated key - I had no idea to actually do what he said, so I did the most simplest one. I slid the brass bolt over the door. It seemed to satisfy him, and I hope it being easy to move would assist me if I actually did need to make a quick getaway.

He gestured me to follow him in a corner that held a box with holes poked in it. Obviously, there was something alive in there. I took a few trembling steps forward. What could Master Vlade have in there that scared Kayley so much? Some kind of monster? A poisonous reptile that would attack me with its fangs? A huge carnivore with razor-sharp teeth that'd tear through my skin—

"Meow."

I blinked as I looked at the box's contents. "_Angelpi_?" I said in disbelief. "You keep angelpi in your office?" In the box were two of the little pussies, both of them rolling over and licking their fur with their tiny tongues and purring is satisfaction. The sight was adorable, and absolutely not what I expected.

He shrugged, as if that didn't seem odd to him at all. "That one," he said, pointing to one with a little curly tuft of fur sticking up, "Is called Mimi. This one is Dora." The other angelpuss with big floppy ears meowed again. "Would you like to help me feed them?"

"Um." I'm not scared of Angelpi – since no one will be reading this journal, I can freely admit to them being seriously cute – but I'm _also _allergic to them. If I touched their fur, I'd blow up like a balloon and start suffocating until somebody gave me a healing potion or something, and Mom would positively hit the roof if I had been stupid enough to do something that I _knew _might be life-threatening.

Again.

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," I began.

He waved it off. "I know about your allergy, Laron. You don't have to touch them." He smiled that empty smile of his again. "Merely sprinkle a bit of food in there." He handed me a bunch of treats, which Angelpi apparently ate. I hoped that my mom wouldn't hear about me getting so close to the petpets. Cautiously, I sprinkled the pet biscuits into the box.

The angelpi looked up at me with their huge eyes and, for a moment, I thought they smiled. Quickly, they left their activities of messing around in the box and began nibbling on the cookies carefully, and the outright chomping on them. I couldn't help but grin.

"Looks like they like it," I said, glancing side-ways at Master Vlade. He didn't answer; he simply kept staring at the box. Then, smirking. A sound of scuffling and whimpers rang out, and I whipped my head around to see what was happening.

My jaw dropped.

I still don't know what those pet biscuits had in them, but whatever it was, it was _wrong. _The angelpi's gentle face was scrunched up, feral, something that I might've seen in some other, wilder animals and yeah, maybe some Guild members too, but not one I thought I would _ever _see in an angelpuss's. Weren't they all supposed to be gentle? Their eyes changed into a blood-red, and they began hissing at each other and clawing at the air. "W-what's happening to them?" I stammered.

He patted my arm in a false-reassuring manner. "It'll be over soon."

I glared. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Then the first cry rang out.

One of the petpets, Dora, lunged forward and ripped at the other Mimi's skin, tearing it to ribbons. I could literally see her innards. Mimi hissed with pain; but she wasn't down yet. Before Dora could come down on her, Mimi bit her leg. There was a sickening _crunch_—and I knew from experience that that sound meant that bone was breaking. Dora yowled, trying to get free, but Mimi kept munching her bone with her little teeth.

Blood was everywhere.

"Stop it!" I tried to move forwards, trying to separate them, but Master Vlade held me back.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said calmly.

I wrenched my arm away from him. "I don't care if I get hurt." How much damage could they do to me, anyway? They were still small, and this was _wrong, _just plain _wrong. _I needed to separate them.

Master Vlade chuckled. "I thought you had allergies."

I froze.

"And the door _is _locked," he reminded me. "There's a huge chance that no one could come here in time to save you from your allergy, if it comes to that."

"You _monster_!" I burst out.

"Ah." He smiled that empty smile of his. "You're finally getting it. Congratulations." The sounds of crying and tearing and destroying rang out from the box, and I tried to turn away. Before I could, he gripped my arm again. "You're going to watch," he told me matter-of-factly. "They're not the only angelpi I have, Laron. If you don't watch, I will simply get another two petpets and show it to you again. Do you understand?" I nodded dumbly. He gestured towards the box. "Lovely, aren't they?"

They were a mess. A huge, bloody mess. I'm feeling sick just writing about it, but I have to get this out of my head and write it down, I _have _to. Mimi's innards had spilled out to every corner of the box. Her fur and skin was ripped apart; her eyes had a glassy, lifeless stare. She was dead.

Dora was the 'winner', though what she won or why she wanted to do it I'm not sure. But she wasn't much better off than her dead friend—Mimi had put up a fight. Dora's eyes were gouged out, and her tail and leg had been bitten off. She was bleeding profusely, and though she wasn't dead yet, she would be, soon.

And for all that, she was still attacking. My stomach nearly hurled when she put her little paws on Mimi's neck and pressed, breaking what little strength it still had; Mimi's head rolled away from the rest of her body. Satisfied, Dora started nibbling at the angelpuss's body—much like she had nibbled on that horrible 'pet treat' earlier. Then she gave a little gasp, slumped forward, and died.

It was over.

"That went well," Vlade remarked coolly, closing the box. He shoved it to me. "Get rid of these, will you, Hanso? Put it in that closet over there." Still numb from what I had seen, I obediently opened the wardrobe nearby. As soon as the door creaked forward, an overwhelming smell exploded in the office. Dozens of boxes identical to the one I was carrying was stored in there. I knew what was inside. The smell was from dried blood, rotting bodies, and death. I quickly shoved my box in and slammed the door shut.

"Why?" I managed to croak out after a long period of silence. "Y-you had angelpi rip each other apart while I watched, and you knew I couldn't do anything. _Why _the _heck _would you do that?"

He raised his eyebrows. "I thought I already made that abundantly clear." Before I could say anything to that, he continued, "though if it hadn't come across yet, well, that's fine. There's always next time, right?"

I spluttered. "What do you mean, _next time_?"

"You don't think your mistakes were going to be fixed in just one meeting, right?" he said rhetorically. "You'll need _plenty _more to put in the lessons you need to learn in your head, and Master Voleur simply isn't the right one to teach them to you." He wrinkled his nose.

"That's 'cause he plays fair," I spat.

"That's exactly my point. Life isn't fair." He clasped his hands behind is back. "And it's an _unfairness _to make you think that it is. So, from now on you'll be having your lessons with me. You'll be helping me with tasks similar to this one, and-"

"_No!_" I yelled, backing away rapidly. "No way in Neopia am I going to help you with anything like that again!"

"Calm down," he said sagely. There was a small twitch around his mouth, as if he was fighting back a smile. "Don't you think learning with the branch master is a great honour?"

"No!" But even in that moment, I knew I had lost. He had the Guild's power at his fingertips. He'd get what he wanted.

So it surprised me when he said, "Perhaps we can make a deal, then."

I stared. "What?"

"I don't mind so much working with an unwilling pupil, but I also know it'd make it much better for the both of us if we can reach some kind of agreement. And while I do need a pupil, I don't necessarily need it to be _you. _So," he said, rubbing his hands. "Do we have a deal?"

"Depends on what kind of deal is it," I said, still not relaxing from my defensive stance.

"It's quite simply, really," he said airily. He seemed to be having the time of his life, as if watching petpets fight to death was what made him joyous. _I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. _"At the present, I have two candidates that need some, ah, _special tutoring. _One of them is you. And the other is, ironically, Miss Halvard."

I frowned. "Wait, what? Why? She didn't get into trouble with you before."

"She's the first one of your class to arrested, most agree that she's the one who injured you (though it seems that no confirmation has been given), and I have absolutely no information about her family, despite her being a thiefs' child." A flicker of a frown cast his face, like he was thinking that there was something not quite right about this, but it quickly morphed into that unreadable expression he always wore. "She's as much as a puzzle as much as you are. Either way, I want one of you to be my student."

"And what's this deal supposed to do with that?" I asked him.

"Some documentation must be taken if I want to disrupt the precious Guild training system our dear leader has worked on," he said dryly. "One requirement of pulling a student outside the class, besides a recommendation of special tutoring from a teacher"— _a _teacher, I noticed, I doubted that Master Voleur would be the one who'd do it –" is a complaint from a class member. Both of you, arguably, have reasons to issue a complaint at this moment." Cue empty smile. "All I need for you to do is issue a complaint, and you're home free. You have my word that I will leave you alone."

He watched me expectantly, but my mind wasn't on the so-called choice yet. Instead of an answer, I asked, "You gave Kayley the same choice as me, didn't you?" His expression didn't change, but again, his mouth twitched. "This is just a head-game," I said in realization. "She gave you an answer." And I had a feeling I knew what it was. He knew it, too, judging by his triumphant almost-smile.

"Your choice still affects my decision, Laron," he said. "You can still lodge a complaint. I give you my word that you'll be the one that goes free."

I took a deep breath. That horrible smell of gore and blood was still in the air, and again, my stomach did some loopedy-loops. All of a sudden, I was tired. I just didn't want to face what I faced today again. I'm only _seven _for Fyora's sake. "Fine," I said. His eyebrows rose up. "Gimme a pen and paper. I'll make a complaint."

Swiftly, he walked over to his desk and produced the writing materials from the drawer. The white of the parchment made me think of prison cells. I grabbed the pen and scribbled a quick note. I wanted to check it over for spelling errors or anything, just like Mom taught me to, but Master Vlade quickly plucked it out of my hands as soon as I finished writing. He smiled again, full out. "My commendations, Hanso," he told me.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," I muttered. I'd look up the word _commendations _later.

"That will be all for today," he said, waving me to the door.

I didn't budge.

"Laron?" He peered at me with his cold blue eyes. "Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

Oh, there were _plenty _of things I wanted to discuss. How horrible he was. How he could let petpets – innocent animals – get harmed just because he felt like it. Why he wanted to do this to me, anyway; besides not showing him proper respect the first time, I didn't do anything to him. And how the heck did he become branch master in the first place, because from what I can see, he is _positively insane. _But I said, simply, "Aren't you going to read what I wrote?"

He might've said no, but I think something in my tone struck him. He opened the piece of paper and skimmed the sentence-long letter that I'd written. Then his eyebrows went up.

Way up.

His face darkened and for the first time since I went in his office, he didn't seem to be in control. Probably because what I'd written had said something like: _I don't tell anything to stupid monsters like you!_ Needless to say, he ripped the paper to shreds then and there. "Still pretty cocky," he said, in a tight voice, "for someone who I had just shown my power over."

"Two angelpi is the extent of your power?" I asked him. "How'd you become branch master again?"

I shouldn't have said that.

With hindsight, it was really very stupid.

But at that precise moment I couldn't care less.

Then his dagger was at my throat, and I realized that this was actually a life-threatening situation. Like I said, I've gotten my fair share before – mostly by accident – but this was something else. A grown-up was attacking me. A full-fledged thief was attacking me, and I couldn't do anything about it. My heart was thumping like a wild drum, and for a split second I wondered if this was what Mimi felt like before she was devoured by Dora.

Then something shifted in his stance, and he sheathed his dagger again. I rubbed my neck and swallowed. "You're really not going to file a complaint."

"I'm not," I confirmed. Sure, I didn't want to spend the rest of my training watching petpets die. But I bet that wasn't a bed of roses for Kayley, either. She wouldn't even have been here if I hadn't roped her into it. It wasn't her fault, and I wasn't about to let her take a punishment that should've been mine, no matter how hurt and irritated I was about her.

His eyes flashed. "Wrong answer." He grabbed me by the arms and started pulling me to the door and hauling it open. He flung me outside, and I would have undoubtedly slammed into the wall and have gotten a concussion—if a pair of arms hadn't grabbed me at the last second. "Don't think this is over," I heard Vlade shout behind me. "I'm _watching _you. Move a toe out of line, and I swear, I will _get _you." The door was banged shut.

And to my eternal mortification, that's the exact moment that I fainted.

* * *

"Hanso!"

"Five more minutes, Mom."

"Hanso, get up. We have to move."

"Please?"

"Hanso!" My face recieved a stinging slap, and I bolted up, instantly awake.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I snapped. "You didn't have to-" I blinked. "Kayley?" What was Kayley doing in my room? Was she following me? How did she get in here? Our house was supposed to be a secret. I was about to tell her so, and maybe some comment about it being rude to stalk people, when glimmers of memories poured into me. I would've falled then and there if Kayley hadn't grabbed my arms and caught be again. "W-what happened?"

"You passed out," she replied.

"I - what?" I wanted to bang my head against the wall. "How long was I out?"

"Just a few minutes." Well, at least that was something to be thankful for.

I closed my eyes. "Man, that guy has temper issues," I murmured.

"You're making smart-alecky comments at a time like this?" Kayley huffed as she held me steady. "I don't know whether I should be annoyed or impressed."

"Impressed," I said feebly.

"Mmm-hmm. Are you all right? Can you can stand up on your own?" Without waiting for an answer, she let go of my shoulders, though she let her hands hover near it just in case. Good thing, too. I was fine for the first few seconds, but then the memories of the angelpi came rushing back and the dizziness and _sweet Fyora, he almost killed me _and I collapsed against her again. "It's fine," she said as I moved to try again. "You're really dizzy—I don't think it's safe for you to get up for a while." She hesitated. "We should probably move away from here in case he comes out again."

"It won't matter," I said, as she adjusted my arm to help us balance better. We were going through the maze; and it was sure lucky she was paying attention earlier, because I wasn't. And even if I was, I was in no state of mind to help her get us out of there. "I'm going to have to spend the rest of training with him anyway."

"_What_?" She sounded shocked. "How is that even possible?"

I blinked. "He said all he needed was a complaint from another student." Her face was still blank. "Wait…you didn't-"

"I didn't give him a complaint about you, Laron," she said. Her eyebrows creased as she put an arm around my shoulders and tried to support me as we walked away. There was cautiousness in her voice when she admitted, "I thought you did, though. I heard you say it."

"Yeah…" I said, the memory floating back to me. "When he gave me the pen and paper, I kinda wrote about him being a monster and how I'd never tell him anything."

"What?" Her soft tone completely vanished. "You _idiot!_ Have you learned _nothing_?" she said exasperatedly.

"What was I supposed to do, _let _him torture you for the rest of training?"

"You could've just said no," she pointed out.

"He was the one who got all dramatic, with the dead angelpi and stuff. I wasn't about to let him get away with that."

"Ugh." She rubbed the bridge of her nose, a grown-upish gesture I never saw a kid do. "Hanso. _Please, _for the love of all things good and merciful, don't provoke him again."

"Too late for that."

"Quite." We made our way to the Guild Hall, where a bunch of thieves were hanging out. Including my parents. "Spend the rest of the day at home," she instructed. "You're pretty shaken up—you won't learn a thing if you stay." She didn't have to say that I shouldn't tell anything to my parents. It had been made clear to both of us what would happen to them if I did. "I'll cover for you with Master Voleur; Medici would probably help you out when you get back."

"What about you?" I asked. "You were pretty shaken up, too."

A grim expression was on her face. "It's not the worst thing I've seen, Laron. I'll be fine."

"But-"

"Your parents have seen you," she told me before I could protest anymore. "You should go to them."

"Wait!" I didn't loosen the grip I had on her shoulder.

"I'm not going to rest, Laron, whatever you say."

"Okay, fine." I sighed. "Can't I just ask you one thing?"

"Make it quick."

"You didn't rat me out," I stated. With hindsight, that was probably why Master Vlade was so triumphant when I told him I wanted to write a complaint—he really wanted to punish Kayley. That was probably why she wouldn't look at me, either. She might be able to stare the soul out of anyone who dared challenged her, but she remarkably lost that ability whenever she did something nice. "You waited for me, too." I didn't add _'And we did nothing but fight each other ever since we met'_, but it was implied. "Why?"

"Because," she said, gently loosening my hold and pushing me towards my parents, "I don't abandon people who need me."

_Entry 13: Mind Games_

"The Prisoner's Dilemma," Razor proclaimed as soon as I told him what happened. We had what Master Voleur called _independent study _during this time period. Razor was supposed to help me with what I missed the day before, but he flat-out told me Master Voleur was so worried about what was going on they didn't really learn much of anything. Now, Razor wanted to know what exactly had happened yesterday.

I _did _need someone to talk to. And since I couldn't tell my parents, the twins still weren't talking to me, and Kayley (much as we've been mostly getting along since then) still kind of intimidates me, Razor was my only option. His mouth had tightened when I was describing the angelpi, like he was remembering some distant memory, he face-palmed when I told him about the insult on paper(to be fair, he was also laughing), but when I told him about the choice thing about the complaints, he immediately stiffened up.

"The what now?"

"It's a mind-game," he explained. Weird. That's exactly what I called it before—seemed that I was more right than I thought. "It's about trust and cooperation, and how it usually fails."

"How cheerful," I said.

"It actually is a real game," he told me. "Even the guards use it when they're learning strategy, to in less…horrifying circumstances. Search it up in the _library _if you don't believe me." For a moment, his tone became slightly bitter.

"How do you know I go to the library?" I questioned.

He waved that off. "Anyway, the rules are simple. Two prisoners are given a choice on whether to betray their friend or stay silent. If one of them betrays, and the other stays silent, the betrayer will get off scot-free while the betrayed will be punished."

"So he actually would have let me off?"

He shrugged. "It depends. If both of you guys betrayed the other, you would've both been punished." I shuddered to imagine training with Kayley, knowing that she tried to condemn me horribly…and knowing that I tried to condemn her, too. "But since both of you stayed silent-"

"What'll happen?"

"I'm actually not sure," he confessed. "In the game, you would've still been both punished, but it'd be a _much _lighter sentence than if you'd both betrayed. But…I doubt there's much he could do to harm you at this stage, or even to coerce you to go back in his office since Master Voleur would be able to argue that he's disrupting your education."

"Do you have any guesses?" I asked shrewdly.

"A few. Don't you remember the angelpi?"

"I still don't know what that even _means_," I grumbled. I'd had a horrible recurring nightmare about it last night. Mom came and gave me a glass of hot milk, just like she always did if I had a bad dream, but I didn't tell her what it was about. Part of it was to keep her from endangering herself because of Master Vlade. Part of it was because I was scared out of my wits whenever I thought of those petpets rising from the graving and choking me with those little claws.

"It's a metaphor, Laron," Razor said dryly. "My uncle's fond of them. It means that the sweetest and most innocent souls can be corrupted against each other."

"Oh."

"My guess," he said matter-of-factly, "is that he's going to make your life hell. He'll throw his dominance over you wherever he can, and he'll delay and delay with promoting you when you deserve it. He'll undermine your talent, he'll support anyone who's trying to split up your friends, he'll make sure nobody in the Guild wants anything to do with you. Probably including your parents."

"Um…that's a lot to do in revenge against a seven-year-old," I said. "Isn't that a tad bit of an exaggeration?"

He shook his head. "That's exactly what he did to the last two members who chose to trust instead of betray."

"And those were?" I questioned.

He gave me a small smirk."Me and Lucrezia."


	7. The Month of Hunting, Age 7

_A/N: Not as bit as bad as last time, I promise, but 'Bad Things' handles something that was never really addressed in the last HJ, though it was mentioned with Marie. By the way, just in case there's some confusion with the whole 'dearest' thing, Ebony's twelve/thirteen years old at this point. _

_Not entirely happy with this chapter, I have to admit, but I think I've been delaying long enough. _

The Month of Hunting

_Entry 14: Power and Perks_

"Seriously, kid. You need to get outta here already."

I'd been staying in the petpet shop whenever I could for the past few weeks. It kind of worked as a kind of therapy me, I guess. For hours, I'd stay huddled in the floor, staring at the angelpi playing and rolling over and telling myself _no, they're not planning to kill you. _They were the same, sweet little creatures they always were. Most of them would find new owners. Most of them would lead happy lives.

Some of them could end up dead in Master Vlade's closet.

_That's what he wants you to think, _I told myself as I stared at a particularly cute one licking its fur. Nothing was safe; no one was to be trusted, because he can _always _corrupt them. That's the kind of message he wanted to leave me, and the last thing I'd do was to give him what he wanted. It's been working so far, sort of. At least I don't longer flinch whenever I see a petpet on the street.

The shopkeeper wasn't very happy with my visits, though. "Look," he said to me earlier, which was like the forty-eighth time I visited. "You've been hanging 'round here long enough." He didn't mention the bit about me scaring the customers away, but I heard it loud and clear. Apparently, seeing a seven-year-old stare at angelpi for long periods of time is creepy to some people. "If you wanna buy something, buy it."

"You're not supposed to be here either," I said without looking away. I'd researched a few things about the guy just in case he tried to kick me out. "Isn't your sister from Meridell ordering the guards to find you because you stole a bunch of her petpets?"

He paled. "How did-"

"Thieves' Guild," I said dryly. We're fairly loyal to our members, and any records of ours are kept under strict lock and key, but any scammer outside our guild was fair game to pick on; there was a plethora of resources I could've used to find out about him. In the end, I simply settled with checking out the general files on Brightvale citizens. (The guards have files like that too, I've heard, but it's nowhere near as informed with dirty secrets as ours.)

"Bunch of hussies," he muttered. "Fine. Stay if you want, but can't you at least help?"

"Can't," I replied. "I'm allergic."

"Couldn't you at least feed them?" he said, exasperated. Unfortunately, those were my trigger words. "You don't even have to touch 'em, just give them a bunch of these crackers and-"

The memory of Dora and Mimi flashed before my eyes. "_No!_" I shrieked, jumping up and backing away. At that moment, I wanted nothing more than to creep into a corner and shake until it all went away. "Never! I'm never going to feed angelpi again!"

"Calm down, kid, it was just a suggestion."

"Of _course _it was just a suggestion," I said sarcastically. "It's not like that was what Master Vlade told me before he made me watch two petpets fight _to the death_! Of course I shouldn't react to those words." At the back of my mind, I knew I really shouldn't be spouting all this stuff to a total stranger. At best, he'd think I was a weirdo and leave me alone.

At worst, he'd tell someone, word would get to Master Vlade, and the bloody branch leader would go after my family next.

That fear might've send me off on another rant, if a hand didn't clamp down on my mouth. "Excuse my friend," Razor said hastily, plastering a quick smile on his face. "He's a little…sick in the head, if you get my drift."

The petpet shopkeeper was staring at us. "Did he just say he watched petpets fight to the death?"

"His mental illness also causes him hallucinations," Razor assured him. "Nothing to worry about. I'll have him checked back with his parents pronto. Would you mind not telling anyone about this?" he asked. "He won't go back to your shop again. I promise."

"But he was saying he saw petpets-"

"Did I mention I've a Medici?" Razor added. "They're one of the most powerful families in the Thieves' Guild. Would easily be able to get someone to pick on certain shopkeepers who are selling stuff illegally?"

The shopkeeper's face changed from suspicious to irritated. "Bunch of hussies," he said again, waving us away. "He _better _not come back."

"He won't," Razor said, quickly dragging me away. As soon as we were earshot, I sprang from his grip.

"What was that for?" I snapped.

"Rule number one in the Thieves' Guild, Hanso," he told me sternly. "You _never _tell anyone about what Master Vlade did. Surprising this might sound, he likes to keep a fairly positive image." I snorted. "It's true. The times when he has to…scare people…is when he needs to remind him of their power. Other than that, he's okay." He wrinkled his nose. "Or as okay as someone like that could be. Either way, I ought to have dragged you out of there sooner. I just didn't think it'd take you so long to recover."

I wondered how long it took _him _to recover. He'd mentioned to me last month that he hated what happened as much as I did. It might've been faster than me, but that wasn't a fair comparison; he had Lucrezia. As surprisingly nice as Kayley was last month, I still didn't feel very comfortable around her. Besides, she'd barely reacted. As terrible as the experience was, it didn't seem to affect Kayley as much as it did to me.

It made me wonder what exactly happened to her that was so horrifying even this couldn't compare.

"Yeah, well, what changed?" I asked. "Why'd you come for me now?"

"Your friend asked for you," he answered.

"What friend?"

He shrugged. "You tell me. She refused to give me her name. An Acara lady? Wears a fedora hat and a trench coat?" The corner of my lips twitched—there was only one person who I could think of that fit that description. "She said that she'd meet you in the library now, if you're up to it."

"I'm up to it," I agreed, already thinking of what shortcuts I could take to get there sooner. "Thanks, Razor."

"You're welcome," he said flatly.

I peered back at him. For some reason, he sounded upset. "Hey," I said. "Why the long face? I thought I was the one who had the evil angelpi dreams."

"It's nothing."

An idea struck me. "This is about the library, isn't it?" I'd been trying to get it out of him what exactly did he know when he mentioned he'd seen me going to the library a few times. So far, I'd ruled that that was also his private hideout—apparently, that was just me and Kayley. I thought maybe he was stalking me, but I didn't see any reason why he'd bother. I don't keep a lot of secrets.

"No!" he said, too loudly.

"Uh-huh."

"Well, maybe."

"Lemme guess. It's part of the Thieves' Guild unwritten rules that you're not allowed to go in the library," I said.

He gave me a withering look. "Knowledge is power, Hanso. Of course I'd go if I…." He trailed off.

"Then why don't you come in?" I know it's a tiny bit hypocritical of me, but Razor didn't seem the type to shy away from a place like that if he could. Besides, because of his family, he's one of the people who had clothing that wasn't _too _shabby. He wouldn't appear as out of place there as I was. Without waiting for permission, I grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the building. "Come on!"

"I-" For a moment, he resisted, wriggling out of my grip; I simply tightened it. He sighed. "Oh, fine."

The walk to the building was quick; were there within minutes. The Acara lady was leaning against the wall outside, her arms crossed and her hat lowered over her face; her usual pose, I guess. She straightened up when she saw us, and gave me a small, reassuring smile—one that told me quickly she knew what had happened to me the last month.

And all of a sudden, my throat was clogging up and I felt tears and my eyes and _they're going to die and I can't do anything about it. _

Before I could stop myself, I'd thrown my arms around the lady's waist. She was clearly taken aback, but she did allow it for a few moments before nudging me away. "No weakness, darling," she reminded me. She sighed. "I take it last month hadn't been easy on you?"

"Easy on me," I scoffed, pulling away. "It was an absolute _nightmare._"

"That's the price to pay for staying in the Thieves' Guild, I'm afraid," she said. "Horrors. Evil leaders. Being an outsider. Scruffy hair…"

"Hey!"

"But you know what the usual remedy to nightmares is, right?" she asked, smirking down at me. "Come on; the entrance over there is where the eating area is." She glanced behind us. "You're more than welcome to join in, Razor. There's enough food for three."

"How do you know my name?" he said suspiciously. Apparently, he wasn't as quick to trust as I was. I guess I could've told him that Kayley knew the lady too, and was probably the source of her information about us; but I knew enough about my scary classmate to know that she would _not _appreciate it.

The Acara lady simply smiled. "I have my ways. You coming? I promised nothing's poisoned."

"There is no such thing as a free lunch," he said, by rote. It'd probably been drilled into him a thousand times. My mom did the same too. Along with the saying _don't take candy from strangers, _but if I wasn't going to listen to the latter (I'd accept any candy given to me), I wasn't going to listen to the former. Besides, the Acara lady wasn't _really _ a stranger. Never mind that I don't know her name.

"How 'bout free dessert?"

His eyes lit up. "Dessert?"

"Mmm-hmm. Blueberry muffins and hot borovan with whipped cream on top." She walked forwards a few steps. "Unless you don't want to come with us? I honestly think I've brought too much, and if I did I'd have to throw the rest away-"

Razor cleared his throat. "I could _never _let dessert throne away," he said, as if that was the most horrible crime anyone could commit. "I'll come with you."

"Good."

The eating area was a brightly-lit room, but with enough cubicles and spaces between tables to ensure privacy if we wanted it. In a way, it was a little like the Guild Hall; the same cozy, home-ish feeling pervaded around the place. Like the lady promised, our table had a pitcher of borovan and a set of mugs, along with a batch of freshly-baked muffins. I studied the pastry closely. "Hey," I said. "They're heart-shaped."

"Uh-huh."

"I thought that only happened in Valentine's Day," I pointed out. I should know. Dad bought one for Mom whenever that day came around – _really _bought it, with honestly-earned money and all – and she always shared it with him and me.

She shrugged. "Well, the baker's an old friend of mine. Said that these usually cheer people up after traumatic experiences—apparently, a lot of guys buy a batch when they're about to break up with their girlfriends."

I studied my muffin. "So we're eating heartbreak muffins."

"Pretty much."

"That's real comforting," I said sarcastically, but I took a bite anyway. As always, it was a dessert heaven, filled with sugar and softness and – though this might sound corny – love. No wonder girls get it when they're hurt. They probably forget all about their problems when they're munching on this kind of perfection. "So," I said, once I knew we were all finished eating. "Not that I don't appreciate this or anything, but why'd you call me here? I take it that wasn't just to comfort me." If that no weaknesses thing was any indication.

"I wanted to get you out of the petpet store, for one thing."

"Why?"

The Acara lady shot a look at Razor. He squirmed. "Um, it's just like I told you about earlier, Hanso. You're being watched. Staying in the petpet store isn't doing you any favours, if you know what I mean."

I groaned. There goes my therapy. "And the second reason?"

"I take it you have a few questions," she told me. "Master Voleur is a good guy, and he's brilliant at pulling people together and teaching them what he _wants _to teach them, but in a classroom, he's kind of hopeless." Sadly, I couldn't think of anything to refute that. "So," she said, clasping her hands. "We've got a guy from the Medici family and me. Anything you want to ask?"

"How the heck did _he _become the branch master?" I demanded immediately. "He's _horrible. _From what my mom told me a few times, the guy has to be elected. Who in their right mind would pick him?"

"That's the thing with the influential families, Hanso," she said dryly. "It's not who would be best for the job, it's how many people he can control. And you've got to admit, he's very good at getting others to do what he says."

"Through fear," I countered. "It's not _supposed _to be like that."

"What did you think it'd be like?" Razor said curiously. "We're _criminals, _Hanso. Did you think everything would be all sunshine and angelpi?" I flinched. "Uh, pun unintentional."

"Something else," I pressed. Fine, I got that thieves and blackguards might need to be more sternly handled than normal, and it wasn't like I was expected a Queen Fyora or whatever on the head; but it didn't need to be somebody cruel. "Seriously. Didn't you once say in the first day that Galem Darkhand was overthrown because of that?"

Razor shook his head. "That reason was used as a rallying point, Hanso. Galem Darkhand was overthrown because he messed with the wrong person."

"Which was?"

"What did your parents teach you about the Thieves' Guild?" he asked with disbelief. "The Mistress of Double-cross, of course." I stared at him blankly. He sighed. "He's a basic run-down. He irritated her. She seduced him while she and Kanrik rallied people behind his back. Kanrik did something wrong, and she double-crossed him. Kanrik killed Galem. She ran away, though most of us assume that she's dead. that about right?" he asked the Acara lady.

She fidgeted a little. "Yes, that's the basic gist of it."

Something was nagging at me that there was something not quite right with that explanation, something that I was _missing_, but I let it slide. "Yeah, I guess."

"Anyway, as much as Kanrik would love to claim the credit for himself, _some _of us can read in-between the lines," Razor continued. "It was obvious that she did most of the work, the one who was doing everything behind the scenes. We don't exactly know what Galem ever did to her, but whatever it was, she got irritated. But unlike a lot of other people, she didn't go straight to him and declare her irritation, which would've just gotten her killed on the spot."

"She made a plan, and she did something about it," I inferred. "Neat. You know, except for the whole double-crossing and dying part in the end."

"Right. Unfortunately, there's no one who can do that _now._"

"Why?"

The question seemed to take Razor by surprise. He turned to the Acara lady, who had her hands folded on the table, looking at him inquisitively. "Why?" she asked again. "Look. Contrary to popular belief, Masila Fatale – that's the Mistress of Doublecross's name," she said to me, "actually wasn't anything special. The rest of Neopia didn't need _her_ to start rebellions. Nor did the Thieves' Guild; not really. Why can't anyone else try to take up the leadership role?"

He looked at her as if she was crazy. "Maybe because the rest of us are really, really scared of Master Vlade?" he asked rhetorically. "And it's for a reason, too. That guy is _killer _with a dagger, believe me."

"And no one else is?" She shook her head. "Are you seriously telling me that he could defeat the entire Thieves' Guild in one battle?"

He scratched his head. "Not the _entire _Thieves' Guild," he admitted. "And…well, there _are _people who are as nearly as good as him in fighting and controlling."

"Like?" I questioned.

Razor even looked more uncomfortable. "Master Cesus Capulet, for one."

"Juliet and Julius's father?" I asked. He nodded. "Well, that was easy. Problem solved. We'll just have to get the twins to ask their father to do something about this whole mess, and-"

"He won't do it," he said.

"Why not?"

"A number of reasons," he said. "A lot of them having to do with…last year." I looked at him questioningly, but he shook his head. I wondered if I would _ever_ find out what the heck happened, with everyone being so tight-lipped about the incident. "Besides, he's kind of in disgrace. He's not allowed to become a branch leader."

Even the Acara lady seemed confused at that. "I thought this was an election-thing."

"It is," Razor confirmed, "but the branch master still has to be approved by the leader of the Thieves' Guild. And Master Kanrik said that he's not allowed."

"Typical," the Acara lady muttered.

"Can't we write to him?" I asked desperately. "Get permission, or whatever? Can't we do _anything_?"

"Avoid him as much as we could?" Razor suggested. "That's what I do."

"No!" I snapped. I combed through the conversation in my head (something I was getting better at, with me memorizing the entire thing for my journal). "Here's what needs to happen," I announced. "We need to get permission from Master Kanrik to get Master Capulet to be allowed to get elected again, and we need to rally the Guild together." Put it like that, it sounded so easy.

But I'd been in the Thieves' Guild long enough to know that _everything _was easier said than done.

Sure enough, the Acara lady asked, "And how do you propose to do that, sweetheart?"

"Not sure about the first thing," I said. I decided to try writing to him. I know it was a longshot for any letters for the leader of the Thieves' Guild to actually be read, but I thought it was my best chance. It wasn't like I could run to Terror Mountain and demand to see the guy personally. "But the second….maybe we could do what that weird Double-cross person did. We could show how horrible Master Vlade is, and make people angry enough to stand up to him."

It wasn't the perfect idea.

I mean, I'm _seven _for Fyora's sake, and even I can see like a thousand ways this could go wrong.

But Masila Fatale wasn't the only one who could make a plan. All the Thieves' Guild needed was a start.

The Acara lady smirked at me, a sly expression on her face, and I had to wonder if this was her intention all along. "I think that's a wonderful idea."

Razor, however, was shell-shocked. "What do you mean, 'we'?"

_Entry 15: Bad Things_

Today sucked.

That's been happening depressingly often now, huh?

Oh, and I lost an ally.

It didn't start out that way, though. We were in Master Voleur's class again, taking 'independent study', and I was poring over some history books. It wasn't my favourite subject to learn, but if I was going to overthrow a branch master I thought it'd be helpful to pick up a few tips from the people who've done it before. I was in the middle of yet again another conflict between Meridell and Brightvale about crops, when a familiar voice said, "I didn't think of you as much as a bookworm, Hanso."

I glanced up, surprised. "Um…I don't read much in the Guild," I admitted. I didn't bring many books in the Guild, either, mostly because they might get stolen. But reading stuff at home was out (I've been hiding all the tomes in a loose floorboard—if my parents saw them, they might start asking question about where I got them) and ever since last month and my angelpi craze, Mom had rarely let me out of her sight. The hideout was my only option.

Besides, I was usually bored anyway.

I flipped a page casually. "So, are you allowed to talk to me now?"

Juliet twirled a lock of her hair. "Um, no," she admitted. "I'm kinda doing this on the sly. Only reason I'm doing it is 'cause Julius isn't hovering near me relentlessly today." The other Wocky twin had called in sick today. "You know I _do _want to talk to you, right?" Her tone was almost desperate. "I really, really would. But my parents don't like your parents very much, and they think you've gotten on Master Vlade's bad side, so-"

"It's fine," I interrupted. Although it kinda hurt, I understood why parents might want to keep their children away from people who the branch master didn't like. I didn't have any idea why they might have a grudge against my parents, though.

"It's _not _fine," she countered, frowning. "I miss you." Before I could say anything to that – I missed her too, badly – she continued, "So. Um, how's the Summer Vines' thing going?"

I blinked. I had completely forgotten about that.

And after last month, proving Kayley wrong didn't seem to be so important to me anymore.

"Not very well," I told her. "Not many sources information, plus my dad feels awkward telling me anything. I don't know, maybe I should just give up on it." And, well, I decided I had more important things to worry about. Like taking care of branch masters who liked killing angelpi.

"Aw, don't give up! You would've broke your leg for nothing," she teased.

I smirked. "Okay, I won't actually _give up." _An idea popped in my head. "Next time I can talk to a guard, I'll ask him about Summer, all right?" Whether I cared about proving Kayley wrong or not, I did what to know what to happen to my dad's old friend.

"Bad idea," said another voice. Kayley was flipping her dagger around, bored; she'd probably been listening to the entire conversation in the shadows.

I huffed. "What are they gonna do, tear me to pieces? I'm only going to ask a question. They can't throw me in prison for that."

"If one of them recognizes you as your parents' son-"

"I didn't do anything!"

A pause.

"Point taken," I said. "But I never get _caught_."

"You're a thieves' kid, Hanso. That might not matter to them."

"For the love of-"

"NO!"

All three of us instantly whirled around. A crowd was gathering on another part of the Guild Hall. For a moment, I was relieved—I had thought that yet another person had somehow managed to listen in to our conversation. Then I realized that if thieves who'd seen a lot of bloodlust were gathering on something, it must be really, really bad. At the corner of my eye, I saw Master Voleur walking towards us. From his worried face, he was going to tell us to stay put while he checked out the danger.

I ran.

"Hanso!" I had enough time to hear him cry, before the noise of the crowd swallowed him up. Stupid as it was, I needed to see what was happening. I wanted to help if I could.

In the middle of the gathering was Master Vlade (who else?) and two teenaged girls; one a Petri who was holding desperately to the blonde Gelert. There was something weird about the former. I watched as Master Vlade ripped them apart and shoved the Gelert away. "This does not concern you, Shuriken," he snapped at her.

"But Master Vlade-"

"Do you _want _your family to get punished?"

"You can go, Bridget," the Petri girl said. She was obviously shaking in her boots, but her eyes were determined. "I-I can handle it." She stood up straight. My eyebrows rose when I realized what was strange with her—ever so slightly, her belly was protruding. She was pregnant.

"But Allison-"

"Go," the girl said. "Go!"

The girl called Bridget bit her lip; then she took a deep breath and sprinted away. Master Vlade sighed contentedly, and then turned to Allison. "I was so hoping to do this interview in my private office. But if we _must _have an audience," he shrugged, "we've got one." He smiled slightly, and in a sing-song, almost sweet voice, he said, "You've failed."

"I-"

"You went against my orders."

She wrung her hands. "He was-"

"A pathetic_ boy _that you betrayed the Guild for," he stated matter-of-factly. "And in the end, he just left you. Poor, naïve little Allison." He smirked. The Petri girl reddened and clenched her fists, but said nothing. "Stop staring so defiantly, child. I'm trying to help you."

"Yeah, right."

"Don't use that tone with me, dearest," he said with boundless affection. She flinched. "That's what he called you, right? 'Dearest'?"

"Leave him out of it!"

"I'm afraid I can't do that," he said gravely. "You see, I was assigned to take care of him. And, knowing what I know, I decided to give the honour of the role to you—pretty, smart Allison who had hundreds of boys falling at her feet and didn't even know it." He sighed. "But you failed. No matter, _dearest. _You're still part of this Guild, so I'm sadly still entitled to help you. It's not like your _parents _will."

She choked back a sob. "They disowned me because of _you_!"

"They disowned you because you disgraced them," he replied. "You didn't have to take the job."

"You said you'd kill them if I didn't!"

"Me? Kill anyone?" He laughed. "Ridiculous. Now, how about we make a deal? I let you have all the rest you want – you won't have to have to steal a thing, we'll allocate a budget for you – _and _I'll take care of your child when it comes….but you have to clean my bedchambers for three months." Even _I _knew what that meant, and I stared at him in horror.

Her lips trembled, and for a moment, I was scared that she would say yes. Not that I would've blamed her if she did. The place that she was being put in was terrifying.

Then she spat on his face.

Seriously. She _spat _on his face.

This was the first time I've ever seen someone stand up for him like that. The result? The girl had won my complete and everlasting respect. However, it didn't impress Master Vlade nearly as much.

His face hardened. "Double-duty," he snapped. "You're to steal a hundred thousand worth of coins per day, without fail. No excuses, no being late, and not _one _day off. You're to be on careful probation under…" He trailed off, searching the crowd. He pointed. A menacing Skeith with pointed teeth stepped forward. "Master Kenjung," he said, addressing him. "You shall punish her if she doesn't follow my rules. Your choice."

The Skeith smirked. "My pleasure."

"It's only fair," Master Vlade continued, addressing both the crowd and Allison. "You've failed on an important mission. You should be punished for it, no matter what the _circumstances_." Her hands flew up to her belly, as if trying to defend it. "As for the rest of you, none of you are to help her fulfil her daily quota. Anyone caught assisting her," and his eyes roved around the place where I thought I spotted my parents, "shall be severely punished."

There was silence. No one was looking at Allison.

"Dismissed," he called out, striding to where I knew the way to his office was. The audience immediately dispersed, everyone making sure to keep a wide berth from the teenager who was weeping openly on the floor. Even Bridget. Even my parents.

Everyone was too scared, and with hindsight, I can see why. He had so much power. You'd have to be stupid _not _to be.

But I was in a stupid mood.

I saw red.

When something that makes me emotional or whatever, I tend to get nervous energy. Mom comments on it a lot. Says that I really should learn to control myself more, since me being impulsive can lead to really awful consequences. I wanted to _do _something. I wanted to lash out at Master Vlade, no matter what he did to me after. I wanted to give Allison (yes, a total stranger) a hug. I was absolutely ready to do it, too

-if it wasn't for someone keeping a tight hold on me.

"Let go," I snapped.

"No," Kayley said simply. "You're going to do something idiotic in front of the entire Guild."

"Then let me!"

"Do you have a death wish or something?"

"He can't just _do _that to her and get away with it!"

"Yes, he can."

"Why?"

"Because he's powerful! He'll tear anyone who challenges him to shreds! You _know _that."

I struggled against her grip, trying desperately to pull away. My adrenaline had sky-rocketed. "I thought you said you didn't abandon people who needed you." She winced. Pressing my advantage, I said, "Come on, Kayley. You _know _she needs us. She's—she's dying out there."

Kayley did know. One quick glance told her that the girl wasn't going to survive on her own; and as we've both learned thoroughly, no one can afford to show weakness in the Thieves' Guild. Yet there Allison was, crying and pregnant and in desperate need of a friend. But Kayley still shook her head. "Someone will come for her eventually," she stated, like that was anywhere good enough to calm me down. "Her friend, or…"

I had enough. "You're just going to let her die, aren't you?"

"No!"

"You know that most of the class thinks of you as a cold, creepy person, right? Someone who doesn't care about anything?" I was practically snarling. "Well, they're right_. _I didn't buy it at first, but they're _right_." I yanked my arm away from her. "You're a total hypocrite, you know that? You only help when it helps you."

"That's not true!"

"Go back to wherever you came from."

"Hanso-"

"I _hate _you!"

Time stopped.

There was this long, terrible moment when she stared at me and looked almost…almost _hurt. _I knew that I said what terrible, and I really, really wanted to take it back—but then the cold, hardened expression slipped on her face like a mask, and then she just sighed and let go of my hand. "Okay, Hanso," she said in a tired voice. "If that's what you want."

"Um-"

"S'fine," she muttered. Before I could say anything else to her, she walked away. Back into the shadows where no one could follow her.

* * *

I have no idea how long I stood there, paralyzed. All I could remember is that when I finally got myself moving, my joints were aching badly, and the Guild Hall was almost entirely empty. A hand tapped on my shoulder. "Come on, Hanso," Master Voleur said, for once all seriousness. "I think you've gotten enough for one day. I better take you back to your parents."

I tried to shake myself back to my adrenaline. "Allison-"

Master Voleur raised his eyebrows, and gave a direction a pointed look. I spun around. Bridget was helping Allison up and taking her to the exit.

Kayley had been right. Someone was already going to help her.

"What I did was a bad thing," I said.

He gave me a small, almost sympathetic smirk. "You just realized that?"


	8. Interlude: Razor

_A/N: Glad for another quick update? This might be the last for a while, though. There may be a small hiatus in this story; I want to focus on writing some other stuff. On the bright side, we've reached the half-way point of the year. _

* * *

Interlude: Razor

* * *

_Leave my door open, just a crack._

_(Please take me away from here)_

–_Fireflies_

* * *

The door had numerous locks and bolts embedded on it, as well as several pointy spikes that positively screamed _'You are not welcome here'. _Razor eyed them with distaste. Strange thing, to find something like that in the Thieves' Guild. After all, putting up something like that where any of their_ illustrious_ members could happen to pass by was usually an invitation to look was inside. Then again, his uncle had always ruled by fear.

His ferocity was probably what was keeping the thieves out, not the locks themselves.

Sighing, he grabbed a bunch of keys from his pocket and began unlocking. When the door still wouldn't budge, he placed his hand on the wood. Sure enough, his print glowed and disappeared, and portal swung magically open. Razor briefly wondered how in Neopia did Master Vlade manage to convince a wizard or faerie to enchant something like that, but then quickly tossed the question aside.

However he managed it, he was pretty sure it wasn't pleasant.

At a glance, the room seemed to be like the one of the outer-chamber; the one which kept all the Guilds' files on unimportant vagrants like that wannabe petpet shopkeeper. But this one was special. This was one had something about the members themselves.

Thieves were private people. They had to be, if they didn't want to get caught by the guards. In the Guild's world, however – and any world that's actually worth anything – knowledge was power, and as the Guild Leader Kanrik could never actually be ensured of someone's loyalty, blackmail would have to do. Before getting full membership, recruits were encouraged (forced) to give personal information about themselves; who were they exactly, why they were running from the law, their worst crime, etc., as well as their signatures admitting they've actually done all this. The deal was simple. Should the members ever turn against the Guild, the Guild would be free to turn in the solid evidence to the guards, who would then be allowed to arrest them on sight.

In the world where both thieves and guards are against you, not many would be able to stand a chance. This was partly why he had given into his mother, he had already admitted sourly.

Information like the Guild files were very sensitive. No one was allowed to look at other people's (and Fyora forbid anyone trying to _steal _one—they'd be slaughtered for sure), and if he wasn't a Medici, Razor would probably be in a very situation right now.

The door creaked.

He jumped under a shelf. _Okay, scratch that, _he thought. He was in a very dangerous position whether he was a Medici or not. Nephew or no nephew, he had no doubt that his uncle would dangle him over a volcano if he got found in here, and even Lou probably wouldn't be able to dissuade him. _Which is why agreeing to do this was very, very stupid._

Then again, Hanso had kept bugging him and bugging him about it so much that he thought the volcano was even more preferable to the Ixi's whining.

Convincing himself that it was just a draft, he crept towards the back of the room, where the most important files were kept. The most influential families of the Thieves' Guild, and incidentally, the ones who did the most black-hearted crimes. The Medicis, the Capulets, and the Montagues. Razor didn't have to have access to the files to know what the latest terrible crime the last family had done.

He had caught a glimpse of Juliet after they had finally found her.

But a trip towards that terrible memory lane wasn't why he was here. Hanso needed information to exploit the branch master and show the horrible things he'd done.

A simple but surprisingly effective plan, as Razor worked out. So far, besides big demonstrations here and there like Allison, Master Vlade kept the horrifying encounters private. Most members probably thought he was the only one to get tortured so. If they could bring some kind of sense of unity…if they could see proof that Master Vlade was using the Guild's resources for his own personal gain, like Razor had long suspected he did….well, perhaps some of Hanso's crazy strategy would actually work.

There. The Medicicabinet. He quickly found the drawer marked _1102, _which he knew to stand for _Vlade. _The Thieves' Guild used codes instead of names on their files—after all, he thought bitterly, not everyone agreed with Hanso's mother's sentiments. Not anyone had the same opportunities that _he _did. If it had been anyone else who dragged him to the library last month, he would've thought he was being insulted, since he, like a lot of the members of the Thieves' Guild, simply _couldn't read. _

What knowledge he came across from, he learned through observation and the numbers that was used as the thieves' code.

He suspected that Hanso was clueless of this, however. He simply didn't seem to be the type to mock his ignorance in his face.

He shook himself out of his reverie; now was not the time to be thinking of the puzzling Ixi sighed, and using the key that he had stolen from his mother's bedroom, he carefully began turning the lock-

-Only to have electricity shoot through his veins.

He would've screamed, if not for the years he had forced himself to remain silent whenever he had a problem. As it was, he had to clamp his mouth shut with his hands to keep him from revealing himself. For a terrible moment, the world swam before his eyes. If he fainted here and now, he'd be dead meat.

He took a deep breath. Two. _I'm okay, _he tried to reassure himself. _Injured and shell-shocked and perhaps slightly delirious, but okay. _

He examined the lock.

This wasn't supposed to be possible. As a member of the Medici family – plus, with a high-ranked members' keys – he was able to have access to nearly every single file within the vault. And if there was one weakness Master Vlade had, it was that he constantly kept underestimating his enemies. No one outside the Medici family would dare steal his files, nor _could_; his uncle was probably certain at that point. Besides, what would be the use? Aside from the Big Three, the branch master position was actually not a very sought-after one.

With the Montagues out of the way, and the Capulets forbidden from taking the position, Master Vlade didn't even take them seriously anymore.

As for regards to _within _the family…realization struck, and Razor face-palmed.

_I admit it. Master Vlade can be very crafty if he wants to be._

No one within the family would want Master Vlade to be overthrown except for Razor. The lock was specifically designed for _him. _

Which made him being here entirely useless.

From his office, Vlade was probably laughing.

Razor groaned and pocketed the keys, thinking of different alternatives to the plan. He'd taken a big risk, stealing things from his parents—no doubt his mother would notice this, and he wouldn't be able to do so again. But he wasn't the only one with the big, powerful parent. If they could convince Julius – Juliet was definitely out of the question – to steal his parents' key, and Hanso somehow managed to get Master Kanrik to agree to let Capulet become the branch master…

Except if it didn't work out it would put Juliet in danger, and Julius would _never _agree to that.

Eh. This is Hanso's problem, not his.

His work here was done. With that settled, he couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of disappointment. He'd taken so much time stealing the keys, and here was a whole Guilds' worth of information at his fingertips, and he couldn't use _any _of it….

He paused at the doorway.

Wait.

Here was a whole Guilds' worth of information at his fingertips.

A slow smile crept upon his face. Who said that he could only use it for Hanso's scheme?

He turned heel and went back to the files. So many victims, so much power…He decided to start on his classmates. He'd already made a point of memorizing their codes, just in case he needed to identify them without their names. Hanso's mother and father was a very tempting choice….he already knew a lot about what happened when they got married, but he wanted to know all the juicy details….

….Or he could use the time to learn about the mysterious Miss Halvard.

Yes. That sounded much better. Master Cesus Capulet was much more paranoid than Master Vlade—likely, he'd set up booby traps around anyone who approached the cabinet that wasn't from his family. And as for Hanso, well, he was easy enough to manipulate anyway. (The Acara lady's eyes looked at his classmate like a piece on her chessboard; Razor didn't know what she was playing at, but he had decided to stay out of it as much as he could.)

Kayley Halvard, he knew nothing about. Because of her argument with Hanso (as far as he knew, the Acara still wasn't taking the apologies that the Ixi was giving her), she might have a reason to resent him because of his association to the guy. Not a justified reason, granted, but since when did thieves rationalize things? And so, he was open to any attacks from her side. This could not be allowed.

Her file was very hard to find. What surprised him was that, for all she _said _she was a thieves' child, the notes about her was in the 'assorted' cabinet; the one which those who are the first members of the family in the Thieves' Guild were put in. True, her parents could be thieves who _weren't _in the Thieves' Guild – in which case he supposed he could check the general files which were up for grabs to anyone – but he couldn't find it likely. A girl with her technique and skill didn't seem to be a daughter of a rookie. Or maybe she had someone training her.

No matter. He was about to find out soon enough.

He lifted it from the cabinet; and frowned. Something wasn't right. The file was _way _lighter than it should be. He glanced at the door, making sure that no one was coming, and then risked a peek at the file. Disappointment swirled his insides.

It was empty.

_Whaddya know, _he thought wryly. _Kayley Halvard can be pretty crafty herself. _There were two possibilities for this. Either she had given in her requirement of personal information and then stole it back just in case someone else would, or she had somehow managed to bypass that part altogether. How in Neopia she did that, he couldn't tell. But a gut feeling told him that if he dared point this little mistake out, she would slit his throat.

Much as he hated to admit it, she sometimes scared him more than Master Vlade.

As he closed the file, a small red paper that he didn't notice before dropped on the floor. Absent-mindedly, he picked it up.

His eyes widened.

Code Red, 998.

Sweet mother of Fyora.


End file.
